Question
If it was found that mutating camels so that almost all have fully split hooves because it perhaps offered a commercial advantage, and then most would then have both kosher signs, would a ?camel? (or new species) then be considered kosher or would a mesorah over the originating camel species preclude this?
I ask these seemingly inane questions, because here in the U.S., some salmon, will soon become commercial available having been genetically modified with a growth switching gene from an eel-like fish, an ocean pout, due to its highly advantageous growth rate increase. Scientists in China, reportedly have already produced genetically modified goats, a kosher animal, to produce more muscle and longer hair (don?t know if these are commercial yet). Other experiments, not commercial yet, using the new, very rapid gene modifying technique, Crispr-Cas9, include goats, pigs, pets, and people (to prevent certain diseases and conditions) and success of these gene modification experiments only takes days to determine success now (see table at the end).
Please feel free to cut the rest of this question, if you like.
Answer
R. Bakshi-Doron writes that the genetic material transferred from a non-kosher species has no taste and isn’t considered food and is therefore kosher, and not considered kilayim (a forbidden breeding of two species). Accordingly, the newly engineered salmon which you described is basically a kosher animal, and its consumption would apparently be allowed. On the other hand, a cud-chewing pig born to a regular pig or a split-hoofed camel born to a regular camel would not be kosher for anything (edible) which comes from a non-kosher animal is non-kosher, and according to R. Sh. Z. Auerbach, is even defined as non-kosher itself (a higher level of prohibition), not just because of lack of mesorah (tradition).
