Berries
11. The instructions printed by the kashrus agencies on some produce, e.g., fresh or frozen strawberries, frozen berries, and the like, say “Only blended.” Many people ask why it is mutar if blended but not if whole. We will explain.
Briyah
12. D’oraisa. We discussed (Issue 360, par. 10) the halacha of a “briyah.” Other issurim in the Torah are usually botul b’shishim if the issur is not identifiable. If so, the insects in any fruit should be botul b’shishim if they are not identifiable, as any fruit is usually sixty times the volume of the tiny bugs inside. This is indeed the case on a d’oraisa level.
13. D’rabanan. Nevertheless, Chazal were machmir. Since every insect is a whole creature, and the Torah says one gets malkus for intentionally eating a whole creature, no matter how small it is, Chazal were also machmir on insects, saying that a whole briyah is not botul even in one thousand times its volume (שו''ע יו''ד סי' ק' ס''א, ט''ז סק''א ).
14. Only when whole. However, this chumra of a briyah only applies to a whole creature. If an insect is cut up or missing a limb, it does not have the chumra of a briyah (שו''ע יו''ד סי' ק''א ס''ו ).
15. Thus, if a fruit with insects is blended well, we can assume the insects were also blended and are thus no longer whole briyos. Once they are no longer briyos, we revert to the regular halacha of bitul b’shishim, like other issurim. All the blended fruit together is certainly at least sixty times the volume of the blended insects.
One May Not L’chatchila Nullify Issur
16. Blending to nullify. However, the whole heter of blending is when the intent is not to blend in order to nullify the issur, e.g., it was blended unintentionally or by a non-Jew for his own purposes. It would be assur to blend something to crush insects so they are not briyos and thus botul b’shishim and mutar to eat—this is included in the issur to l’chatchila nullify an issur [אין מבטלין איסור לכתחלה]. The same way one may not l’chatchila nullify an issur in something sixty times its volume (שו''ע יו''ד סי ' צ''ט ס''ה ), one may also not blend a briyah to make it botul b’shishim (שו''ע סי' ק''א ס''ו ).
17. If one blended something l’chatchila with the intention to nullify the issur, the food may not be eaten by the one who blended it or the one he blended it for (שו''ע שם ).
18. Uncertain issur. The poskim hold that this issur—nullifying something assur by blending fruits with insects with the intention of making the insects not briyos—is only if something assur is definitely present or if something is assumed to be assur. However, if the presence of issur is uncertain, there is no issur to blend it. One may l’chatchila blend it, and if there is a briyah present, it will be botul b’shishim after it is blended (ש''ך יו''ד פ''ד סק''מ, צ''ב סק''ח, קי''ד סקכ''א, קט''ו סקכ''ח, הג' כנסה "ג הג' הטור צט אות טז, פרי תואר סק''ה, שו''ת חת''ס יו''ד סוף סי' ס''ב ).
19. Heter to blend produce. Thus, the whole heter to blend produce that might contain insects is if the likelihood of infestation is a significant minority or less. However, there is no heter to blend produce assumed to be infested, as one may not l’chatchila nullify issur when the issur is definitely present or assumed to be present.
