Accidental Use of Carmine

Q. In a previous Halacha, it was noted that foods that are colored with carmine are not kosher, even if the carmine is less than one sixtieth of the product. If a food item with carmine was accidentally cooked in a kosher pot, would kashering be required?

A. The pot would not require kashering for the following reason. In most instances, non-kosher ingredients are botel when they are nullified in sixty parts, because the taste of the ingredient is no longer perceptible. Carmine is not botel even though it is generally used at levels of parts per million, because the color is visible, and bitul does not apply to an ingredient that remain discernable. However, carmine is no longer visible when absorbed in the wall of a pot. With respect to the vessel, the carmine is botel and there is no need to kasher the pot.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.