Hi Rabbi!
Is it permissible to consume a vegetable omelet cooked at a hospital cafeteria? Do I need to confirm that no non-kosher meat is being cooked on the same griddle? Or that any cooking instruments are not being used with any non-kosher meat products?
If you would so kind as to review the rationale for your answer, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jacob
Check out our laws of Taaruvot https://kashrut.org/project/taaruvot-how-halacha-evaluates-non-kosher-ingredients/
If the omelet is being presented and sold as a vegetable omelet, I would not worry about whether some non-kosher meat may also have been cooked on the same griddle or whether the same utensils may sometimes be used for meat.
In today’s Western food-service environment, when something is sold as vegetarian or vegetable, there is a very strong expectation that you are not going to get pieces of meat or noticeable meat flavor in it. There are vegetarians, people with allergies, people who simply do not eat meat, and many others who rely on that representation. If a customer ordered a vegetable omelet and found meat in it, he would immediately complain.
Halachically, the laws of תערובות and transferred flavor are primarily concerned with טעם, actual flavor transferred from the prohibited food. We do not have to start imagining every possibility that perhaps a hamburger was previously cooked on the same griddle and perhaps some minute residue remained and perhaps some of that entered the eggs.
Could the same griddle have been used for meat? Certainly. But that alone does not mean that your vegetable omelet now contains a meaningful taste of meat. If the omelet looks like a normal vegetable omelet and there is no meat in it and no noticeable meat taste, I would eat it without worrying about the history of the griddle or utensils.
This is also related to the general principle that we do not manufacture an איסור out of remote possibilities. You deal with the food that is actually in front of you.
Of course, if you actually see a piece of meat in the omelet or taste an obvious meat flavor, then stop eating it, return it, and ask them for another one. But you do not need to investigate beforehand and ask them what else was cooked on the griddle.
So in practical terms: look at the omelet, make sure it appears to be what they are representing it to be, and enjoy it.