Sechora - Infested Produce

QUESTION: Is one permitted to buy and sell vegetables that are known to be infested with bugs, or is this too included in the prohibition of doing business with non-kosher foods?

ANSWER: We have previously seen that one may not do business with Torah prohibited non-kosher foods. Since eating infested produce is an issur Torah, it would seem that this too should be included. However, the Pri Chadash (Kuntres Achron) writes that there is no prohibition to do business with infested produce. He reasons that since no one is paying extra for the bugs, if anything they are paying less, it cannot be considered that one is doing business with a forbidden item. The business is being conducted on vegetables, not on the bugs. The Pri Megadim (Sifsei Daas 84:18) questions this logic but agrees that the custom is to be lenient.

As was mentioned, according to some Rishonim, the prohibition of doing business is a safeguard against eating non-kosher food. If one does business with non-kosher, they might sample the foods. This concern would exist in our situation as well. Therefore, according to those Rishonim the prohibition should apply to infested vegetables as well. However, Chelkas Binyamin (117:2) explains that the Pri Chadash was lenient for a different reason. Since one can wash the vegetables and remove the bugs, one is not selling something that is intrinsically forbidden. It is a remediable situation. 

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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.