Articles

By Rabbi Dovid Cohen, Administrative Rabbinic Coordinator

Q. Can you tell me some of the main issues with insects?  [I’m not looking for instructions on how to check or clean vegetables, just some background.]

A. The Torah forbids the consumption of insects.  Some of the “unexpected” ingredients which are actually insects are Apis mellifera (bees, used in homeopathic remedies), mucin (a snail secretion filtrate/SSF), Acheta powder (ground crickets), carmine (a type of beetle, used as a coloring agent), and lumbrokinase (an earthworm).

More common is that many fruits, vegetables, and herbs are infested with small insects.  In other words, even if no one saw a bug in any specific head of lettuce or container of strawberries, experience has taught that it is common for there to be insects in these types of food.  These items can be classified into three categories:  [1] If more than half of this food is typically infested, we must assume that there are insects there (muchzak b’tolaim), and it is assur mid’oraisah (forbidden by Torah law) to eat it without removing the bugs.  [2] If it is common that there are insects in this type of food (miut hamatzui), but the infestation is less than 50% of the time, there is a Rabbinic requirement to clean or check the food before eating it.  [3] If it is unusual for there to be infestation, then one may eat the food without any need to check or clean it.

In some cases, it is important to know whether a food is in Category 1 (muchzak b’tolaim) or Category 2 (miut hamatzui), such as if the person mistakenly cooked the food without checking it, or in deciding if it can be used in a smoothie without checking.  These issues require input from your local Rabbi or Va’ad, for guidance on the halachic issues and on how to categorize each given food.

Another halachic issue regarding insects is that all agree that microscopic “insects” are permitted, but there are different opinions as to which small insects are large enough to qualify as “visible” (and are, therefore, not considered “microscopic”).  Some take the position that it must be identifiable as an insect when looking at it without any magnification, and others say that it must merely be visible to the naked eye even if you would need a “loop” (pocket magnifier) to confirm that it is an insect.  There are also differences of opinion as to whether this decision is made by the average person or by someone who has been trained to see and identify insects.  Those who take stricter stances on these issues will invariably consider certain foods to be infested (i.e., muchzak b’tolaim or miut hamatzui) that others would not.  In turn, this will also affect decisions about how much to wash and clean each type of produce.

One last issue worth noting relates primarily to herbs.  The halacha is clear that after 12 months, an insect dries out to the point that is considered like “dust” and is permitted.  Binas Adam assumes that the same is true if the insect is dried out with heat; this is generally accepted and is the basis for certification of the dried herbs found in most kitchens.  Some contemporary Poskim have said that the same is true of herbs which are “freeze-dried” (a complex process which uses lower levels of heat in conjunction with vacuum).  This leniency does not apply to frozen herbs because (a) freezing might kill the insects, but dead insects remain forbidden, and (b) freezing does not dry out the insect or cause them to disintegrate (but rather preserves them).  Therefore, frozen herbs require certification to ensure they are free of insects.

This article first appeared in the Let’s Talk Kashrus column, Yated Ne’eman, November 15, 2024.