Question: A dairy spoon was accidentally put into the meaty dishwasher together with meaty utensils and the dishwasher was run. Is this problematic?
Answer:
Since it has been ascertained that the dairy spoon was clean from dairy residue, and the dairy spoon had not been used in conjunction with hot dairy food within the previous 24 hours, the meaty dishes remain permitted. This is because the meaty dishes can only be detrimentally affected if there is tangible dairy residue, or “potent” dairy bliyos (i.e. food matter absorbed in a utensil) and in this situation both are not present.
Regarding the dairy spoon, if there was tangible meaty residue on the meaty utensils, this poses a problem if the dishwasher initially uses hot water and no detergent.
However, if you can ascertain that detergent is used during the initial rinse, or that the dishes are thoroughly cleaned with cold water during the initial rinse, then the meaty dishes also remain permitted.