Zaid Alsalami's response to Is eating vegetarian pizza permitted from a restaurant in the US keeping in view that the same oven was used for meat pizza's? And what about french fries given that the oil used may have been used with meat products?

Is eating vegetarian pizza permitted from a restaurant in the US keeping in view that the same oven was used for meat pizza's? And what about french fries given that the oil used may have been used with meat products?

Restaurant Meat Vegetarian Pizza Oven Cooking Oil French Fries

Is eating vegetarian pizza permitted from a restaurant in the US keeping in view that the same oven was used for meat pizza's? And what about french fries given that the oil used may have been used with meat products?

Zaid Alsalami, Shaykh Dr Zaid Alsalami is an Iraqi born scholar, raised in Australia. He obtained a BA from Al-Mustafa University, Qom, and an MA from the Islamic College in London. He also obtained a PhD from... Answered 3 years ago

Bismihi ta'ala

In these mentioned cases, cross-contamination with najasah would make the food najis as well, and therefore haram to eat.

Unless you know that the common process in these restaurants is that they wash the pizza pan, change gloves, wash the knife, and so on. You can ask them these questions, and you can ask that the pizza not be cut, to avoid contamination from najasah.

As for using the same oven, that would not be a problem, because the pizza is put on a pan and then in the oven. If a pan is not used, then this is when there would be a problem.

In regards to french fries, or "chips", not only must the oil itself be halal, it must not have been used for cooking anything non-halal that is najis.

The oil must not be animal based, so it should be vegetable oil. What is cooked in it must not be najis, like meat that has not been Islamically slaughtered. However, if it is not halal to eat, but tahir, then there would not be a problem, like non-halal sea food. This is something you will experience in a fish and chips shop, where they might cook fish that does not have scales, or maybe even crab, in the same oil as the chips, or halal fish. In this case there is no problem, as long as there are no pieces of that food sticking to the food that you are going to eat.

And Allah knows best.