As there as many positive similarities between Jewish law (halakhah) and Islamic law (fiqh), I was wondering about the following:
In Jewish dietary law there is a concept of "nullification" of forbidden substances in food. This means that when there is below a certain percentage of a forbidden substance in a mixture, the mixture or food item is deemed kosher because the forbidden substance is considered to be "nullified" due to its very negligible amount. This is especially true if the forbidden substance cannot be either seen, tasted, or smelled.
For example, we as Jews are not allowed to eat mixtures of meat and milk together. But, if we use a pot (clean of course) that has had meat cooked in it to cook a dairy soup, the meat residue (if there is any) is considered nullified as long as it does not produce a meaty taste in the soup. In essence, it is treated as though it is not there.
This principal helps to mitigate obsessive and compulsive worry about foods, since unless they are prepared in a laboratory, all prepared foods have some sort of foreign substances mixed in. This is just a reality. If we didn't have a point at which we stopped taking foreign substances into account, we would have to worry about particles and dust - making the preparation of food nearly impossible.
So, I am wondering if there is a similar concept in Islamic dietary law that allows for a negligible amount of possible haram to be [not intentionally] mixed into foods and still have those foods be halal.
shukraan.
