30 Nov Kashruth Questions of the Week

Q: Does the dill that is used in Jarred pickles and given a hechsher by the OU get checked for bugs or does it not require to be checked?

A: When we give a hashgacha on a product that has fruits and vegetables, part of giving the supervision is making sure there is no infestation issues. Kosher law is very strict on infestation so there is no way we could label a product “kosher” if the issue of infestation has not been properly addressed.

Many years ago, there was a brand of romaine lettuce that was being sold with a certain supervision. We all know that romaine lettuce is typically very infested and really needs to be washed and checked very well for any infestation. I was not aware that this product was being sold here in our community with a supervision that has gone through any of these types of processes. So, I called the Rabbi and asked him about his system on the supervision of these romaine lettuce. He says “Rabbi, I’m not certifying the bugs, I’m only certifying the vegetables.’’ I was not very impressed. But that is the story. A reliable supervision, and in my mind that is one of the ways in identifying a reliable supervision, makes sure that the vegetables they are certifying is one hundred percent edible. If there’s infestation, then of course they are not going to certify it.

If someone made a bracha on ice cream that was milchig and realized before he put it in his mouth that he was fleishigs, what should he do? Make a bracha levatala or eat treiff?

The issur of eating dairy after meat is at most a derabanan, a minhag, and that is why there are different minhagim of how long you have to wait after eating meat before eating dairy. The issur of a bracha levatala is de’oraysa, which is of course much more serious. So unless you’re eating it together with meat, you should swallow the little bit that’s in your mouth.