What You Need to Know About Kosher at Work

By: Yehuda Shurpin

Keeping kosher in the workplace can present a variety of challenges, from getting and prepping your kosher food to making sure that you can store it separately from the non-kosher stuff your coworkers may bring.

But with a bit of planning, some cooperation from your coworkers, and a stash of disposable utensils (or your own private set), you should be able to make things work. Here are some things to keep in mind.

Hot and Cold Drinks

Cold water dispensers are OK to use.

Hot water dispensers (including urns, pump pots and instant hot water) are generally permissible. If you saw the spout being immersed in non-kosher soup or the like, avoid using the urn. Otherwise, if the status of the urn is unknown, you can just wipe the spout and let a bit of hot water flow before use (see foonote1).

Coffee urns are permissible to use if they’re dedicated exclusively to coffee. So if someone put up a pot of kosher coffee, you can pour yourself a cup.

This assumes that in your office—like most offices—there is not much cooking going on besides for coffee. However, if in your office, there is reason to believe the coffee pot could have been washed in a sink together with non-kosher, discuss the details with a rabbi.

Keurig machines are complicated. Even though they were originally designed to dispense only coffee, Keurig machines now also offer non-kosher options, such as soups. Therefore, only use the office Keurig if you know it is only used for coffee.

Ovens (Both Microwave and Convection)

You can use a non-kosher microwave or oven if your food is properly sealed. It’s best to double-wrap the food (like in two layers of Ziploc). This way, if one plastic layer bursts, the food is still protected by the second layer.

Note: A standard microwave splatter cover doesn’t work for this purpose.

Utensils

Utensils: Avoid using any public utensils or cutlery that may have been used for hot foods or liquids by others. To play it safe, stick to disposable cutlery and plates.

Can openers may be used as long as they do not have visible non-kosher residue (check for gunk before using).

Storing Kosher Food in a Shared Refrigerator

In general, having your food in close proximity to non-kosher food in a fridge is not an issue as long as it’s in a closed container, preferably one that protects it from potential spills.

But there is still the concern that if you entrust your food to a non-Jew, or leave it in a common space—such as an office fridge—someone may come along and swap it out for a non-kosher lookalike.2

Foods whose non-kosher equivalents are forbidden by Torah law—such as wine, meat, chicken and fish—need to be double-sealed to ensure that no one swaps them out (the same applies to food that may be exchanged for chametz on Passover).

Foods that might be swapped out with something forbidden by rabbinic law—such as cooked wine, dairy, cheese, bread, honey and oil—need only one seal.

If, however, the same person who wrapped and sealed the food will be the one to unpack it, one seal may suffice even for things forbidden by Torah law, as the non-Jew will avoid tampering out of fear of detection.3

Unique Foods

Another option is marking or cutting the food itself in a distinct way. For example, salami that has been cut in unique shapes or homemade patties that are difficult to mimic are good to go since you would notice if anyone tried to exchange them.4

In Practice

Thus, if you leave your food in a common fridge and will retrieve it yourself, one seal is enough. But if you order lunch out and it is entrusted to a non-kosher delivery service or coworker, the food would have to bear two seals or have a unique form.

What constitutes a “seal”?

A proper kosher seal, or siman, doesn’t need to be tamper-proof but must be difficult to duplicate.5 A signature on a piece of tape, for instance, qualifies as a siman, even though someone could theoretically replace the tape and copy the signature. Since replicating a signature involves effort, it serves as a valid seal.6

Practically, one can place the food in a bag with a recognizable label (e.g., from a kosher store) and tie it with a double-knot that must be torn to open. Alternatively, you can use any shopping bag with a tight knot, wrap it with masking tape, and then mark it with a unique symbol or signature.

Never Leaving

If you’re consistently in or near the room where the fridge is located, even if you occasionally step out for a bit, there is no concern, since no one would dare exchange it. However, if food is left unsupervised, such as when you leave the office for the day, it would need to be sealed.7

Cut-Up Fruit and Veggies From Company Cafeteria

The concern here is that the knife used to cut the produce may have been used previously for non-kosher food. The knife may have retained some greasy non-kosher residue even after it was washed or wiped, which can then transfer to the kosher food.

However, we can generally assume that manufacturers and processors use dedicated utensils for fruits and veggies. Even if the knife isn’t solely used for produce, when large quantities of produce are cut, any non-kosher residue is likely removed after the first few items, becoming nullified in the majority.

Because of this, kashrut organizations say it’s permissible to buy cut fruit and veggies from a supermarket or grocery. But if the fruit was prepared by a smaller outfit—such as a company cafeteria—you need to be cautious with cut produce since the knives are likely to be used for non-kosher foods.8

          (Chabad.org)

Footnotes

1. See Shut Chelkat Yaakov, Orach Chaim 204. If hot water is dispensed onto non-kosher food, steam can rise back to the spout and make it non-kosher, if the steam or spout is hot (yad soledet). Dispensing hot water into meat or milk can also affect the pareve status of the urn. If there’s enough water in the urn to create a 1:60 ratio against the steam, any non-kosher (or dairy/meat) taste is nullified; otherwise, kashering is required. However, kosher authorities rule leniently when the urn’s history is unknown, assuming it hasn’t been used with non-kosher in 24 hours, making any absorbed taste stale (pagum) and ineffective. Additionally, steam is typically batel (nullified) in 1:60, usually doesn’t rise directly to the urn, and plastic spouts rarely reach problematic heat.

2 . Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deiah 118:1

3. Shulchan Aruch, ibid.
4. See Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deiah 63:1.
5. See Shach, Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deiah 118 sk 17.
6. See Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deiah 118:3.
7. See Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deiah 118:10.
8. See Rama, Shulchan Aruch, Yorah De’ah 96:1,4 and Shach 3.

A noted scholar and researcher, Rabbi Yehuda Shurpin serves as content editor at Chabad.org, and writes the popular weekly Ask Rabbi Y column. Rabbi Shurpin is the rabbi of the Chabad Shul in St. Louis Park, Minn., where he resides with his wife, Ester, and their children.