Forgotten Berachos - Food Particles (Continued)

QUESTION: In a previous halacha we noted that a beracha is not recited when swallowing food particles that were stuck between the teeth, because food in your mouth would not be eaten by others and therefore it is not treated as food. If so, is it permissible to eat dairy, even if there are particles of meat in one’s teeth?

ANSWER: The Gemara (Chulin 105 a) asks, what is the status of basar bein hashinayim (meat between the teeth) with respect to eating dairy. The Gemara answers that with respect to the prohibition of consuming meat and dairy, the meat between one’s teeth is still considered meat. The Talmud supports this position with the following verse in the Torah: “Ha’basar o’denu bein shinayhem” (Bamidbar 11:33 - the meat was still between their teeth). We see that meat between the teeth is still referred to as meat, and as such, one may not consume dairy so long as the meat is present. 

What if I have some meat stuck between my teeth, and I have already waited 6 hours. May I now eat dairy, or am I required to first remove the meat particles?

Rav Belsky zt”l (Shulchan HaLevi 22:10) writes that even if you waited six hours, if there is meat between your teeth it must be removed before eating dairy. He bases this on the ruling of the Rema (YD 89:1) who writes that if after waiting an hour, one finds meat between their teeth, it must still be removed before eating dairy. The Rema was referring to those who have a custom to wait one hour between meat and milk. Rav Belsky reasoned that the ruling of the Rema equally applies to those who wait 6 hours. The Pri Megadim (Mishvatzos Zahav 89:1) also writes that meat stuck between the teeth has the status of meat even after six hours. 

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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.