Used dairy potato masher for potatoes that were cooked in meat pot

Question:

I accidentally used the dairy potato masher to mash potatoes that were cooked in a meat pot, while they were still inside the meat pot after draining the water. What is the status of the potatoes and of my masher? Are my potatoes Kosher and is my masher still dairy? There were only potatoes and water in the meat pot.

Answer:

So long as the meat pot that was used for the cooking of the potatoes was not Ben Yomo from meat use (which means that it was not used with hot meat or chicken within the past 24 hours) at the time that the potatoes were cooked in it, then both the potatoes and all vessels retain their Kosher status. The dairy potato masher likewise remains dairy. However, if the dairy potato masher was somehow used within the past 24 hours for hot dairy, then the potatoes are considered Chezkat Chalavi for Ashkenazim, and may not be eaten with meat, or a meat utensil, and is customarily not eaten even with dairy, and the pot is to be Kashered. If it was not used in the past 24 hours for hot dairy, then the mashed potatoes remain Pareve. If both the meaty pot and the dairy masher were both used in the past 24 hours one for hot meat and one for hot dairy, then the potatoes are forbidden to be eaten for Ashkenazim and the vessels must be Kashered unless one can measure that they contain 60 times the amount of the volume of the dairy potato masher. If only the pot was Ben Yomo but not the potato masher, then the Ashkenazi custom is to require the non-Ben Yomo vessel to be Koshered, and the potatoes are not to be eating either with meat or dairy. This is only the Ashkenazi viewpoint, however, according to the Sephardim everything remains Kosher and the food remains Pareve and may be eaten with either meat or milk in all cases.

Explanation:

The above law relies heavily on two concepts, one being the concept of Ben Yomo and the second being the concept of Nat Bar Nat. When either vessel is Ben Yomo then there is no challenge to any of the foods or vessels, and everything retains its Kashrus status being that the vessels are not considered to be carrying any problematic taste of meat or milk. The problem only begins when one or both of the vessels are Ben Yomo. In such a case, the Ashkenazi custom is to treat the Ben Yomo taste that is in the vessel as being potent enough to affect the food. Accordingly, when only one of the vessels is Ben Yomo, one may not eat the food with the food of the opposite vessel, and the custom is to not eat it with either meat or milk. Likewise, we Kasher the non-Ben Yomo vessel being that it has absorbed Ben Yomo taste of the opposite food. Now, if both of the vessels were Ben Yomo, then everything becomes forbidden being that everything has absorbed both potent meat and milk taste. This is only the Ashkenazi viewpoint, however, according to the Sephardim the rule is that everything remains permitted in all cases being that they view the transferred taste from a vessel into a Pareve food as a very weak taste which does not have ability to deem the Pareve food as meaty or dairy. This concept is known as Nat Bar Nat, which represents a diluted taste that has no halachic meaning.

Sources: See My Sefer “The practical Laws of Basar Bechalav” chapter 8 Halacha 25; See Michaber and Rama 94:5; Taz 94:8; Shach 94:16-20; Toras Chatas 57:14; Peri Chadash 94:15-19; Lechem Hapanim 94:17-22; Beis Lechem Yehuda 94:17-20; Chavas Daas 94:16-18; P”M 94 S.D. 18; M.Z. 7-8; Biur Hagr”a 94:18; Kaf Hachaim 94:49-54; Sephardic Custom: Michaber 95:3; Peri Chadash 94:14; Kaf Hachaim 94:56;