Question:
hello, i have a simple question. there is a grocery store near my work that also says hot non-kosher food. they made fries which are just made of potatoes. since i work in an area of mostly just warehouses, there are no kosher stores near us to buy any food so i called that grocery store and asked if they fry the fries in the same oil and their meat or anything else and he said they do not. he explained that they have a separate french fry maker that uses its own oil so it does not come in contact with any other food. am i allowed to purchase just fries from there?? Thank you so much.
Answer:
It is not a good idea to purchase such fries, and this is for two reasons. Firstly, we cannot really know that the fryer and the oil were not used at all for non kosher items. Even if this is what they say, you never know when something could go wrong and necessitate them using the other fryer. aside from the fact that there is really nothing stopping any of the workers from actually using the fryer for non kosher food. Secondly, here are many poskim who would say that the fries would be problematic because of bishul akum would advise you not to eat from those fries.
