Is Beeswax Kosher?

Beeswax is a secretion from a gland located in the abdominal section of worker bees. It has important applications in the food industry. For example, it is used as a coating for cheese to protect the food as it ages, and as a coating on high-end candy to help lock in the flavor. Since beeswax is a glandular secretion, one would assume it to be non-kosher. (We previously noted in this Halacha Yomis series that glandular secretions are prohibited.) Is that the case?

Rav Belsky, zt”l ruled that beeswax is kosher because it is tasteless and has the status of nifsal mei’achila (unfit for human consumption). In fact, there are many proofs from the Rishonim and Acharonim that beeswax is kosher.

As a side bar, Rabbeinu Chananel  (11th century Talmudist) writes in his commentary to Shabbos 134a that beeswax is a waste product of honey.  This seems to conflict with the contemporary scientific view that beeswax is a secretion of the bee. Rav Belsky, zt”l suggested that Rabbeinu Chananel considers beeswax a waste product of honey because bees consume their own honey and then convert the sugar in honey into wax and secrete the wax from special glands. In this sense, beeswax is a waste product of honey.

The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt”l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.