Question:
We [are] doing some [university-level] menu planning for the fall and had a discussion regarding how to accommodate demand for halal products more regularly this year. A question came up regarding the need for equipment segregation.
Can you offer some guidance on the level of separation that would be expected to maintain the integrity of Halal? For example, if we cook pork in an oven at breakfast, would we be able to then cook halal products in the same oven? Products wouldn’t be cooked together, but the oven would be the same without a detail cleaning in between.
Answer:
The halal food being oven-cooked in a clean pan is unaffected by the surrounding air of the oven.
Even if, say, some specks of lard or pork fat spill over onto the bottom hot surface of the oven and then, when the oven is used for the next batch of food which is halal, the fat burns, emitting some fumes that surround the uncovered halal food (like potatoes or bread for example); and the halal food acquires an unpleasant burnt lard smell as a result; even so, it is still perfectly pure from the legal perspective.
Just let kitchen hands and any utensils used such as knives and plates, cutting boards, slicing blades if using a machine, blenders, pots etc. be thoroughly clean before halal preparations. Unlike Kosher laws, Shari`a does not require that separate utensils or space be used.
And Allah knows best.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
