DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 746 KB)
Delivering Kosher Food Through a Non-Jewish Courier

The question arises in Halacha as to the status of Kosher food delivered by a gentile. For example, if a person orders food from a Kosher restaurant or pizza shop, and the food is delivered by a non-Jewish delivery boy, is the food permissible? From the Gemara it appears that if a gentile delivers Kosher meat, one must be concerned that the gentile may have substituted non-Kosher meat for the Kosher meat, and therefore the delivered meat may not be eaten. Would this mean that a Kosher restaurant may not deliver meat with a non-Jewish delivery boy? Is there a distinction in this regard between meat and other foods?

Chacham Ovadia Yosef writes (Halichot Olam, vol. 7, p. 171, Halacha 13) that meat may be delivered via a gentile only if it is wrapped in a double seal. Since one must tear open two seals to take the meat, any tampering of the package would be immediately discernible. Therefore, if the customer finds the meat with its double-seal packaging intact, he may rest assured that it was not tampered with and the meat is Kosher. This applies to wine, as well; one may allow a gentile to deliver wine only if it is packaged with a double seal. The Mashgiach (Kashrut supervisor) of a restaurant or store must ensure that meat and wine is packaged in a double seal before sent for delivery via a non-Jew.

If, however, one sends Yayin Mevushal (wine that had been brought to a boil) or dairy products, then a single seal suffices. So long as the food or wine was packaged with a single seal, it may be delivered via a gentile courier.

This Halacha applies as well to sending one's non-Jewish housekeeper to the store to purchase food. It is permissible to have her bring from the store sealed, packaged food, and one may have her bring meat or wine that is not Yayin Mevushal only if it is packaged with a double seal.

Summary: If a gentile brings or delivers Kosher meat, or wine that is not Mevushal, one may partake of the meat or wine only if it had been packaged with a double seal. For Mevushal wine or dairy foods, a single seal suffices.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Passover – Se’udat Ester on the Second Day; Shopping, Cooking and Playing Music on Hol Ha’mo’ed
Passover – The Second Cup of Wine at the Seder
Pesah – Must Women Recite the Full Hallel Before the Seder?
Passover – Halachot of Kadesh and the Four Cups
Passover – Brooms, Can Openers, Cookbooks
Cosmetics and Perfumes on Pesah
Pesah – The Status of Food Prepared in a Hametz Pot
Pesah – If a Small Piece of Hametz Fell Into Non-Hametz Food Before Pesah
Erev Pesah – If One Mistakenly Ate Masa; Eating Masa Meal Products; Eating Marror and Eggs
Pesah – Shehehiyanu, Ya’ale Ve’yabo, Afikoman
Pesah – “Crash Course” on the Seder
Pesah – The Custom to Eat an Egg at the Seder
Pesah – Bedikat Hametz
Ereb Pesah – The Siyum for the Firstborn
Pesah – The Beracha Recited Before Bedikat Hames
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found