Checking Fruits and Vegetables

Q. I was told that I am not allowed to eat certain fruits and vegetables unless I first perform a bedika (check) for infestation, while others can be eaten without inspection. On what basis are these distinctions made?

A. All fruits and vegetables are susceptible to some level of infestation. Yet, Chazal only mandated checking for infestation for produce that is typically prone to infestation. In halachic terms, produce that has an incidence of infestation at a level of “miut hamotzui” (literally, occasionally common) requires inspection.

There are various opinions among poskim what constitutes a miyut ha’matzui. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l (MInchas Shlomo 2:63) and many other poskim follow the ruling of the Mishkanos Yaakov (YD 17) that a 10% level of infestation is considered a common occurrence and requires inspection, while less than 10% is viewed as a miyut sh’aino matzui (an uncommon occurrence) and does not require checking. The OU follows this ruling as well.

When we refer to greater or less than 10%, what unit size portion are we referring to? Rav Schachter maintains that the unit is the amount of fruit or vegetable that a person would typically eat at one sitting. For example, if most people generally eat 10 cherries at one sitting, then cherries would be considered a miyut hamatzui (a common occurrence) if the typical incidence of infestation would be at a minimum of 1 cherry in every 100.

If a person bought 10 apples and found a worm in one, does that mean that the incidence of infestation in this batch is a miyut ha’matzui and all the apples must be inspected? No, that is not the case. Miyut ha’matzui is based on large samplings and not individual batches. However, if a person found 3 worms in ten apples, all the apples in this batch would require bedika. As we noted in a previous Halacha Yomis, three incidents establish a chazaka, and we suspect there are more worms in this batch.

In summary, there are two separate situations that mandate bedikah (inspection) of produce.

• Muchzak: 3 or 4 insects found in a single pot, plate bowl etc.
• Miut hamatzui: Produce that typically has a 10% rate of infestation, based on large scale sampling.

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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.