06 Jul Kashruth Questions of the Week

May one eat a salad at non-kosher restaurants while on the road?

Rav Belsky, zt”l ruled that one may absolutely not eat a salad at a non-kosher or vegan restaurant. Here are several of the reasons:

Maris Ayin – eating in a non-kosher restaurant gives the impression that one is doing something forbidden.

The knives used to cut the salad may be soiled from non-Kosher use and that would make the salad non-kosher.

Even if the knives were clean, if they were used to cut ‘sharp’ or spicy vegetables, they will transfer the non-kosher taste from previous usage.

Many vegetables need to be checked for insect infestation in order to be considered kosher.

Can one eat an ice cream from a store scooped from a container that has the OU certification but the store does not?

This is something to be very careful about. People assume that if the name of the store is a brand that’s been certified that it means the store is also certified and that’s incorrect. First of all, just because a store has a certain name doesn’t mean they’re only selling that brand. Number two, there’s hardly an ice cream brand in which all of the flavors are Kosher. Some flavors use marshmallows, which are usually not kosher, and other ingredients that can prevent them from being certified. So if you go into the store and you see that the tub that you want to purchase the ice cream from is marked with a valid certification then that’s fine. You just have to make sure that the scooper is completely clean and also that the cone and the toppings are kosher. If not, you shouldn’t buy it even if you know that the tub you’re buying from is certified.