The Kosher Kitchen: Waiting Periods Between Meat and Dairy

Meat and dairy may not be cooked or eaten together, but what does "together" mean? This article presents everything you need to know about eating dairy after meat and vice versa.

Dairy After Meat

Sephardic Custom

• After eating meat or poultry, Sephardim wait six full hours before eating dairy.

• In cases of genuine need—such as being in a rush to attend a Torah class—one may be lenient and wait five-and-a-half hours.

 Ashkenazic Custom

• Ashkenazim have diverse traditions:

  • Many wait six hours, but some wait four or three hours, and a few communities have the custom of waiting just one hour.

  • Among Chassidim and most chareidim, the custom is to wait a full six hours.

  • If someone eats a meat meal in the evening and then goes to sleep for the night and rises early so that only four hours have passed since the meat was eaten, it is customary in many circles to permit dairy foods (such as coffee with milk) even though the full six hours have not passed.

When Do the Six Hours Start?

• While there is a halachic opinion that supports counting from the end of the meal during which meat was eaten, the prevailing custom is to count from when one finished actually eating meat.

• Even if you did not actually eat meat, but only a stew or other dish that meat was in (and you only ate the potatoes), one counts six hours from when you finished eating the meaty dish.

• For example, if you ate meat and then lingered over desserts or conversation, you start counting six hours from the last bite of meat. 

Altering One's Custom

• An Ashkenazi who is accustomed to waiting six hours between meat and dairy, and now wants to adopt a shorter custom (because he is elderly or frail etc.) must annul his implict vow of six hours in a procedure known as hatarat nedarim. A rabbi should be consulted as to how this is done, as it is a semi-public procedure which one cannot perform alone.

• A Sephardi may not reduce the six-hour waiting period with hatarat nedarim, as six hours is the binding halachah. (Yalkut Yosef 89:99)

Why Do We Wait Six Hours?

• Two reasons:

  1. Rambam: Meat can become stuck between the teeth. After six hours have passed, any remnants are flavorless.

  2. Rashi: Meat, due to its strong flavor, leaves a lingering taste and fattiness in the mouth for up to six hours.

• Either reason suffices in practice. Therefore, even if a person only ate meaty sauce, for example, he must still wait six hours before eating dairy, because of the residual taste.

Special Cases

Dentures and Orthodontics

• If you wear removable dentures and ate meat, you must remove and clean them well before eating dairy (even after six hours have passed).

• Fixed dental features (such as braces or retainers) do not need to be removed for cleaning, but should be cleaned thoroughly while in the mouth, before dairy. 

Tasting Without Swallowing

• If you chewed meat and spat it out without swallowing, you must still wait six hours before eating dairy because the meat may have become stuck between your teeth.

• If you tasted something meaty without chewing any actual meat, and then spat it out, there is no need to wait six hours before eating dairy. You should, however, rinse out your mouth after tasting the meaty item. 

Finding Meat Between Teeth

• If, after six hours have passed, you discover meat between your teeth, remove it, and you may eat dairy right away.

Uncertainty About Time

• If you're unsure whether the full six hours have passed since you ate meat, you may eat dairy immediately, since this is a Rabbinic law and doubts are treated leniently.  

Children

• Strictly speaking, children may eat dairy after one hour.

• Nonetheless, it is proper to teach children to wait six hours (or whatever is the parents' custom) after meat, from the age of one year before bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah (that is, boys from age 12 and girls from age 11).

• Many communities have the custom that both boys and girls wait the full period between meat and dairy from age nine (what is known as gil hachinuch, the age at which a child can comprehend the meaning of mitzvot and become accustomed to fulfilling them). 

Sick or Postpartum

• Someone very ill (it need not be dangerously) or a woman within 30 days of giving birth may wait just one hour between meat and dairy.

• Nursing mothers needing dairy may also be lenient, even after 30 days, according to Sephardi poskim (halachic decisors). However, they should clean their teach carefully before eating dairy.

• This is not the prevailing Ashkenazi custom; nursing mothers should preferably wait the full six hours between meat and dairy, or at least five-and-a-half hours. 

Mistaken Blessing

• If you accidentally recited a blessing over a dairy food while still within six hours of eating meat, you should taste a little so the that blessing is not in vain.

• (If the food in question is not dairy after meat but rather prohibited in and of itself, such as a food that was cooked by a non-Jew, we do not taste it but instead say the verse, "Baruch shem kevod malchuto le'olam va'ed" as a form of contrition for having spoken God's name when it was not required.)
• If a person eats dairy and then remembers that they were still within the six hours of eating meat, they should do teshuvah, a process of spiritual repair which involves regretting the error and resolving not to repeat it. As a demonstration of this resolve, they should review the laws of meat and dairy. 

Non-Dairy "Milk" Products & Meat Substitutes

• Non-dairy milk substitutes may be eaten together with meat and at the same meal as meat (e.g., pareve ice cream).

• We are not concerned about mar'it ayin (creating a false impression) because people are accustomed to the idea of these products looking dairy yet being pareve.

• If meat is actually being cooked together with a non-dairy milk substitute, it should be made clear that the substance is not really milk. For example, if meat is cooked in almond milk, one should place some almonds in the milk.

• Similarly, we may eat pareve meat substitutes (such as soy schnitzels or soy dogs) together with genuine dairy, as people are accustomed to the existence of such products and no one assumes that the person is eating basar ve'chalav (meat and milk).

Waiting Between Dairy and Meat

• Dairy and meat may not be eaten at the same meal, even if one first eats dairy and then meat.
• Dairy and meat may not be eaten on the same tablecloth.
• After eating dairy, if a person wishes to eat meat he must first make a brachah acharonah (an after-blessing) on the food. This could be Birkat Hamazon (if the dairy was eaten with bread) or a shorter brachah acharonah if the meal was based on pastries or some other food that only requires a simple after-blessing.
• In addition, the following halachot apply:

Sephardi Custom

• If someone wants to eat meat after eating a solid dairy food, they should first eat something  solid and pareve (e.g., cake, crackers) and also rinse out the mouth with water before eating meat.

• This applies even to hard dairy foods like yellow cheese or pizza.

• If someone has gaps between their teeth, they should clean them carefully between dairy and meat.

• If the person did not eat dairy solids but only drank milk, it is sufficient to rinse out the mouth before eating meat.

• If the person's hands are soiled from the dairy food, they should wash them carefully before eating meat.

Ashkenazi Custom

• If a person wishes to eat meat after eating dairy solid food or drinking milk, he should drink something non-dairy or rinse out his mouth with water, eat something pareve, and also wait for a period of time before eating meat (common customs are between half an hour and an hour).
• If the dairy food in question was aged hard cheese (such as Parmesan), one waits the full six hours after eating it before meat may be eaten. The reason for this is that aged cheese is a pungent food whose taste lingers in the mouth long after it is eaten.
• The hands should also be washed before eating meat after dairy, if they are soiled.