Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), states the following: “Muslims, as far as Islam is concerned, are allowed to eat the food prepared by any human being as long as it is clean, healthy and prepared with halal (lawful) ingredients. It is not the requirement of the Shari`ah to have Muslim cooks and Muslim food servers. It is the Jewish and Brahmanic food laws make such restrictions, not the Islamic food laws.
It is worthy mentioning here that Islam teaches us that we should be friendly to all people. Islam teaches us that we should deal even with our enemies with justice and fairness. Allah Almighty says: ‘O ye who believe! Be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity, and let not hatred of any people seduce you that ye deal not justly. Deal justly, that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is Informed of what ye do.’ (Al-Ma’dah :8)
Moreover, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, adds: We can only eat foods which are prepared in conformity with the Islamic teachings of halal (the lawful) and haram (the unlawful). In other words, we cannot simply eat dishes containing meat that non-Muslims have prepared unless we have ascertained without doubt that they have obtained the meat from halal sources. It is common knowledge that eating fish has no such restrictions, in other words we can eat it without any problem.
Our religion is simple and natural, and teaches us to deal with all people fairly and justly; halal is halal and haram is haram regardless of whether it is provided by a Muslim or a non-Muslim. The laws of Allah do not discriminate among people.
It may be illuminating to know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his companions used to eat food that had been prepared by their pagan relatives and friends; they only avoided those foods which are forbidden in Islam.
Based on what is mentioned above, we can say that a Muslim can eat from the food prepared by non-Muslims as long as he pays attention to the guidelines mentioned above.