Q&A: Cleaning Worms That Are “Visible to the Eye”
Cleaning Worms That Are “Visible to the Eye”
Question
Hello Rabbi,
There is a halakhic rule — and I’d be happy to be corrected if I’m mistaken — that it is forbidden to eat worms that are visible to the eye, but worms that are not visible are permitted when one has no knowledge of them.
When people demonstrate cleaning produce, they usually show videos where they take some fruit or vegetable, put it in water, soak it, and so on, and then you see all the bugs that are there.
The problem with that example is that they remove the bugs from the place where the whole question of whether it is visible or not visible to the eye is most relevant. You can’t take a vegetable and do some chemical process that removes the bug from it onto a white surface and then say that the bug is visible to the eye — that’s not the place being discussed. The discussion is about the vegetable itself, and in my opinion that’s how one should look at lettuce or any other fruit or vegetable: look carefully and see whether there is a bug or not. If you see one, remove it and eat; if not, just eat it right away.
There is no reason to wash the vegetable with soap, only with water the way you would wash it even without this Jewish law about worms, and then eat it.
What is the Rabbi’s opinion on this matter?
Answer
There is no such Jewish law. There is a prohibition against eating insects. Some halakhic decisors wrote that the prohibition does not apply to insects that are not visible to the eye. The reasoning is that a reasonable person has no control in such a situation. Therefore it makes sense to assess this on the fruit itself. However, one could argue that the reasoning is different: if they cannot be seen, then these are not significant insects, and therefore there is no prohibition. According to that, even if they are seen on another surface, they are still visible and are forbidden. Therefore, if it is possible to ensure that the fruit you eat does not contain even such insects, that is preferable.
By the way, the videos show this on a surface so that it will be clear on camera. That does not mean those insects are not visible on the fruit itself.
I didn’t understand the question about washing with soap.