Not only is milk from a kosher animal kosher, but the colostrum produced by a lactating kosher animal just after it gives birth, is also kosher. There are some who suggest that lanolin, made from a grease recovered from sheep’s wool, is forbidden, but it is generally accepted that it may be consumed, and in fact, it is the common source of Vitamin D3. [The reasons behind these two opinions is beyond the scope of these posts; click here for a shiur on that topic.] In contrast, human flesh is forbidden, and Poskim therefore recommend that people not rip off small “skin tags” with their teeth because it is forbidden to swallow that skin.
There are two common food-additives made from insects. One is carmine (cochineal), which is made by grinding a specific beetle, and it is used to color foods in red, orange, and purple shades. Since it is made from a (non-kosher!) insect, carmine is not kosher and foods colored with it cannot be consumed. The other is shellac (confectioner’s glaze) which is made from the excretions of the lac bug. Shellac is used to add shine to candies, chocolates, and other foods, and some do not consume any of these items because they view shellac as the forbidden excretion of a non-kosher insect. Most American hashgachos allow this ingredient as kosher, based on the ruling of Rav Moshe Feinstein. The details of Rav Feinstein’s logic is beyond the scope of these posts, but suffice it to say that it is based on the shellac being an extract of the insect, and therefore its status is more lenient than carmine which is made by grinding the actual insect.
Honey is made by bees, and since bees are not kosher one would imagine that honey should also not be kosher. The Gemara teaches that there are two possible reasons why this is not true: it may be that honey is viewed as basically being nectar harvested from (kosher) plants (and the enzymes added by the bee are considered insignificant and do not change the status of the nectar/honey), or that the Torah makes a special exception in permitting honey. That said, the type of honey called “honey dew”, which is made by bees which feed on insect (aphid) secretions instead of nectar, is forbidden because the first reason noted above (and possibly even the second) do not apply to it. Otherwise, honey is permitted regardless of which plant the nectar is collected from (e.g. orange blossom). That said, it is recommended to only purchase honey with hashgachah to ensure that it is not packaged (hot) on equipment used for packaging non-kosher sauces.
Although honey is permitted, it is generally accepted that the bee-product known as “royal jelly” is not considered kosher. Royal jelly is a “standard” excretion of the bee, and is not made from nectar, and therefore it is not included in the general leniency that honey is kosher. On occasion, parts of a bee may find their way into honey which is not filtered. The halacha is that the legs of the bee are permitted, but other bee “parts” (wings, torso) are forbidden and must be removed before the honey is consumed.
Two medicinal items made from bees – Apis Mellifacea (used in homeopathic remedies) and bee venom – are not kosher. However, beeswax, bee pollen, bee bread (ambrosia), and bee propolis are permitted, for the following reasons. Beeswax is a (non-honey) excretion but is permitted because it is considered inedible. Bee pollen is an unchanged item taken from plants, and is therefore inherently kosher. Bee bread and bee propolis are made by bees by combining permitted items (pollen and nectar, and plant resin and beeswax, respectively) and are therefore also acceptable. [For more on the topic of yotzeh, listen to the shiurim at http://kshr.us/YotzehShiurim.]