Kashrus - Toothpaste

QUESTION: Do I need to be concerned that there are non-kosher ingredients in toothpaste?

ANSWER: Like mouthwash, many brands of toothpaste contain glycerin, which is a kosher sensitive ingredient. Those poskim who permit mouthwash, including Rav Schachter shlit”a, permit toothpaste as well. This is because toothpaste is inedible and is not intended to be swallowed. Rav Belsky zt”l, who was machmir regarding mouthwash, differentiated between different types of toothpaste based on how much glycerin they contain. Toothpaste is made up of cleansers, flavors and sweeteners. Rav Belsky explained that if the majority of the toothpaste is comprised of inedible ingredients, then the glycerin, which is a minority, would be nullified. Although ordinarily for a taste to be nullified it must be less than 1/61st of the recipe, in a situation where the item is inedible, and the concern is due to “achshevei” (attributing importance to an inedible item by eating it), it is sufficient for the non-kosher ingredient to be nullified in a simple majority. Since the non-kosher is part of a mixture, swallowing it does not show that you consider all the ingredients to be edible. One’s main motivation is to use only the main ingredients. However, if the majority of the toothpaste is comprised of edible ingredients, then he required that the toothpaste be kosher. In practice, it can be difficult to make this assessment, and therefore Rav Belsky would recommend only buying toothpastes that are known to be kosher.

___________________________________________________

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.