chinese take out: I was at a Chinese take out that makes fries, wings, eggrolls and all that, put a heap of clams in the deep fryer.|||Sure... restaurants can use the same fryer for any type of food. There is no health code rule for using the same fryer for potatoes and meat. This is because fryers are generally set at about 350 F., which is hot enough to kill any bacteria associated with raw chicken, seafood or any type of meat. However, if you happened to be vegan and asked the restaurant manager about this, and the manager lied to you, it would be an ethical issue. Restaurants, just like food companies that sell packaged food in grocery stores, have to follow "truth in advertising" laws. If a restaurant manager lied to you about this type of thing, you could probably file a lawsuit.|||There is nothing wrong with the fact that most restaurants are not equipped with 8-10 fryers to cook all the different foods available. I am happy that Rab takes the time to dump his oil and clean the fryer before each order is prepared. If you have allergies or specific diet requirements and the restaurant does not take that into consideration then shame on them. Celiacs are the very common now and all we do is stove top fry a menu item and we would do the same thing for any other individual that requires special attention. As for Rab I would make him something with special sauce. You do not have to be a jerk! We are in the food service business not food servant!|||Well, 350 degrees....is NOT hot enough to kill all....Here is why I know....My husband is severely allergic to FISH and SEAFOOD....we have ordered fries for him at a Fast Food Restaurant that used the same fryer for Fish....He only had 4-5 french fries and had a bad allergic reaction. I called the the Fast Food place and let them know what had happened, and they were honest with me and told me yes they did use the same oil for the fish and the fries, eggrolls etc. We learned a valuable lesson. Now we let the waitresses know about his allergy as we order, to be sure they are aware of any cross contamination, as I can order seafood out as I have no allergy to it. I was told restaurants did have to have a separate fryer for fish and seafood, for just that reason. I could have gotten bad information, but that was the only time this happened to him in many many years.|||Hi,///// This is not good practice,not because it is a health problem to start with although it could become one. It is because whoever cooks like that is lazy and has no respect for the customer or themselves for that matter because the can hardly call themselves a cook. Mixing so many different things in the oil will taint it and shorten the life of it. I would never eat there again - but I would tell them why first -preferably in front of other customers when they were busy. if they ever do get busy that is! all the best. Rab|||As the others have said, sure they can. It does taint the oil, as one answerer said. My grandpa owned a restaurant for years and had one fryer for fish, one for chicken, one for beef, and one for non-meat products. May seem excessive to have that many fryers, but everyone swore the foods there tasted better.