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If a kosher type of animal dies of disease or an accident and has not been slaughtered, it is referred to as a neveila and may not be eaten. If an animal is injured in such a way that it will die within the year, it is called a treifa and may not be eaten (even if it is slaughtered). The most common defect that may render an animal a treifa is an adhesion on the lung. To determine whether an animal with a lung adhesion is a treifa, the growth is removed from the lung after slaughter. The lung is then blown up with air and placed in water. If air bubbles rise, there is a puncture, and the animal is a treifa. If there are no bubbles, it is kosher.
Some are stringent and require meat to be “smooth” (glatt in Yiddish, ĥalak in Hebrew), meaning that no adhesion was found on the lung at all. They maintain that if there is an adhesion on the lung, even without bubbles, the animal is still considered a treifa because eventually the adhesion would loosen, and the animal would die. This is one of the biggest debates within the kosher laws. Sephardim and some Ashkenazim follow the stringent position. Nevertheless, the lenient position is the primary one, so meat which relies on the bubble test is kosher.
