QUESTION

Maryland, USA

Can someone buy a pre-seasoned pizza steel (basically a slab of steel with a proprietary oil that’s applied and then heated up before selling it to consumers). I have read that cast iron is okay to buy even if pre-seasoned, but that seems to be because the pre-seasoning develops a black coating and is nifsal mei’akhilah. The steel does not turn black, so does it still fall into the nifsal mei’akhilah category?

ANSWER

I addressed before the cast iron case. I don’t think it is because of nifsal (why would they bother doing it if that were the case). I think if you contact them and they say it is all vegetable based, and you make it clear that you have a condition that does not allow you to eat any meat products, and they say, yes, it is all vegetable – then you can believe them. That’s what I did for my cast iron, and I would say the same here. If they refuse to answer the question, I would not buy it.

FOLLOW-UP ANSWER

This article was pointed out to me.

The point of the article is that the visible stuff is nifsal, which I agree with, and that the absorbed stuff has been kashered through libun kal, which is an interesting approach I hadn’t thought of. (Some poskim require libun chamur.) Given that it’s eino ben yomo, I think you can rely on it, although from a metziut perspective I would still be wary, if it isn’t imparting any (good) taste, why are they bothering?