Q. I live in the Clanton Park area but I frequent a bagel store in the Bathurst/Lawrence area. I recently noticed that they have a sign that says their garlic breadsticks are dairy. Apparently they are smeared with butter right after they come out of the oven. I was surprised by this because they don’t look dairy. I remember once hearing in a shiur that dairy bread can only be made if it’s recognizably dairy. Upon probing they seem to have gotten an ok from Rabbi Miller to make and sell them. Is this true? If it is, was the heter lchatchila or bdieved? And can I freeze my leftover breadsticks if I mark them dairy?

A. Shulchan Aruch (Y.D. 97: 1) rules that one should not bake bread with milk so he will not come to eat it with meat. Even after the fact the bread remains prohibited, unless we comply with one of two conditions. The amount baked is small and it looks different that regular bread.
Based on the above, Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that although it would be better to avoid baking the garlic bread sticks with milk, if done one may sell and eat them. It also would be recommended to label the remaining sticks as dairy.

Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a