Smoothie Stand: Kashrut Supervision
Question
At the pool where I take my kids in the summer, there is a juice and smoothie stand. They are not under any kashrut supervision. They only use fresh fruits and milk, coconut milk, sugar, and honey with kashrut symbols and equipment such as knives and blenders that have never been used anywhere else. They are very nice and will openly show you how their operation works if you ask. Lots of Orthodox Jews come to this pool and say it’s kosher because there can’t possibly be anything wrong with it. What’s the scoop on that?
Answers
In theory, it may not be a problem and everything that is prepared there may be Kosher. If the people manning the stand are Jewish and they can be relied upon to tell the truth, it is probably okay to buy there. However, if they are not, there may be Kashrus issues that seem relatively innocuous but really are not.
For example, if they are using grapes. Fresh grape juice is the same as wine and needs to be Kosher. The people who squeeze the grapes (or blend them in the blender) need to be religious Jews, otherwise the grape juice cannot be consumed. This is so even if a small amount of grape juice is being added to a larger smoothie or squeezed fruit drink.
Even if there is no grape juice at the stand, there is a potential issue with the knives that are used to cut lemons and limes and the like. I know that you wrote that the knives are used only at the stand and only for cutting fruits, but how can you know that for sure? If, for example, one of the workers used the knife to cut his salami sandwich, the knife is now meaty. If that knife is then used to cut a lemon, the lemon is then considered to be meaty as well.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team