What makes fish roe (eggs) kosher or non-kosher?
The eggs of fish have the same kosher status as the fish they come from, as do most foods that originate from a living creature.16 If a fish is kosher, the eggs found inside of it are kosher. Non-kosher fish, such as sturgeon, have non-kosher roe. Once roe is removed from a kosher fish (much like the flesh of the fish itself, after the skin is removed) it requires kosher supervision. Thus, even roe from a kosher fish could not be regarded as kosher unless it was under Rabbinical supervision from the moment of its extraction. The exception to this rule is red roe (i.e. from salmon or trout), which the Beis Yosef17 rules can be accepted as kosher without supervision (when processed in “dedicated” equipment and no ingredient other than salt is used.) The basis given for this leniency is that the Beis Yosef asserts that no non-kosher fish has red roe that remains red after salting. Though some have questioned the basis of this assertion,18 the Orthodox Union accepts the Beis Yosef’s ruling
