I waited for someone else to bring this up, but it didn't happen. The "clean" and "unclean" of Deuteronomy concerned only what was suitable for the altar in the tabernacle (ceremonially clean), certain (ceremonially clean) animals were fit to keep to eat and sacrifice, while some wild animals (i.e. deer and antelope) were allowed for hunters to take, but not use for (unclean) sacrifice.
The dietary law was given in the wilderness, 40 years before crossing the Jordan into the promised land, all but two men hearing those dying in that wilderness. But Moses preached a big exception for after they crossed the Jordan. The tribes would scatter as lands were conquered, all moving far from the tabernacle, God's approved place for worship and sacrifice.
For any living too far away to take part in exactly perfect sacrifice at that designated spot on earth, the people could kill and eat any flesh they desired for feeding themselves. This proves "unclean" meat was not based on health, and the whole issue was related only to proper sacrifices. Clean or unclean, the blood was forbidden. If in fact killing and eating an "unclean" animal, then one was ceremonially unclean for some hours, contaminating a "clean" animal that then could not be used for sacrifice. That was the provision for the people to be able to eat while settling new lands, building up herds of clean animals, while there was provision of "unclean" animals also saved on Noah's ark. That was to continue until all the tribes livied in safety from enemies, when the Lord would appoint places for sacrifice within reach of all.
Remember there were no synagogues until a century before Jesus was born, there being the tent tabernacle of Moses until Solomon built a permanent temple at Jerusalem.
If you are a practicing Jew, then you can only follow Moses as far as your rabbis/scholars can interpret in the absence of animal sacrifices on the altar. No Jew can today accurately declare they keep the law. They keep traditions and feasts.
If you are a Gentile (non-Jew), whether Christian, Buddhist, atheist, or other, you are not commanded by God to follow Moses. The law was for the Jews. When they rebelled against God and were therefore evicted by God from the promised land, much of their law became abolished immediately with the loss of the temple at Jerusalem and their synagogues, which Moses didn't preach should exist anyway. The rest of their law was abolished at the cross of Christ. Jesus' law took over, as taught mostly by the apostles, per Jesus' sermons about the Kingdom of Heaven. The Jews and Muslims deny Jesus did that. No Christian should deny any claims in the New Testament, none of which depend upon the old law.
Deuteronomy 12:10-24 (KJV)
[SUP]10 [/SUP] But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;
[SUP]11 [/SUP] Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD:
[SUP]12 [/SUP] And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.
[SUP]13 [/SUP] Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:
[SUP]14 [/SUP] But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.
[SUP]15 [/SUP] Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.
[SUP]16 [/SUP] Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.
[SUP]17 [/SUP] Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:
[SUP]18 [/SUP] But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.
[SUP]19 [/SUP] Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth.
[SUP]20 [/SUP] When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
[SUP]21 [/SUP] If the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the LORD hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
[SUP]22 [/SUP] Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike.
[SUP]23 [/SUP] Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
[SUP]24 [/SUP] Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water.
Verse 22 makes it clear that as the always "clean" deer and antelope were allowed as long as they were no part of a sacrifice, so shall you eat whatever you want if there is no close-by place God has appointed for animal sacrifice.
The blood is the only part of any animal that the apostles specified as being off limits to Gentile believers (Christians). They were not even allowed to enter the temple to make a sacrifice anyway, so had no reason to practice ceremonial cleanness.
Any Gentile just touching the outer wall of the tabernacle would be killed. But in Jesus' day Herod's Temple afforded the Court of the Gentiles within the outer wall, quite a change! There were warning signs for them reading "
NO FOREIGNER
IS TO GO BEYOND THE BALUSTRADE
AND THE PLAZA OF THE TEMPLE ZONE
WHOEVER IS CAUGHT DOING SO
WILL HAVE HIMSELF TO BLAME
FOR HIS DEATH
WHICH WILL FOLLOW"
They could worship there, but not take part in the Jew's religion inside. It has never been expected of the world of Gentiles to take part in Judaism, unless taken in by a Jewish family as guest, slave/bondsman, or they convert.
No flesh commonly taken by hunters or herdsmen. etc. is declared unhealthy by God. "Kosher" is not a matter of health as far as scriptures are concerned, having only to do with ritual purity.