Short answer
No. Eating and drinking do not break wudu in the Hanafi, Shafi'i and Maliki schools. The Hanbali school makes one exception: eating camel meat breaks wudu. Rinsing your mouth after food or milk is sunnah, but you do not need a new wudu.
No food or drink breaks wudu, including camel meat and food cooked on fire. Rinsing the mouth after eating, especially after fatty food or milk, is sunnah. An intoxicating drink breaks wudu if it makes you drunk enough to stagger.
Other madhhabs
- Hanbali
- Eating camel meat, raw or cooked, breaks wudu. Other food and drink does not.
Explanation
Early on, people were told to make wudu after eating food cooked on fire. That ruling was later lifted: Ibn Abbas reported that the Prophet ﷺ ate a shoulder of mutton and then prayed without making wudu. The majority of scholars, including the Hanafi school, take this as the final ruling.
Common cases:
- Water, tea, coffee or juice: do not break wudu.
- A meal or snack: does not break wudu. Rinse your mouth before praying so food bits do not distract you.
- Milk: rinsing the mouth is sunnah, since the Prophet ﷺ rinsed after milk and said it has fat in it.
- Camel meat: does not break wudu for a Hanafi; see camel meat and wudu for the Hanbali view.
- Alcohol: haram to drink, and if it makes you drunk it breaks wudu, like losing consciousness.
Eating during wudu, or between wudu and prayer, does not affect the wudu. Chewing gum or a sweet does not break wudu either, but take it out before you pray, because eating breaks the prayer.
If you vomit after eating, that is a separate question: see does vomiting break wudu. For the full list of what does break wudu, see what breaks wudu.
The evidence
Sahih al-Bukhari 207
Sahih... أكل كتف شاة ثم صلى ولم يتوضأ ...
"He ate a shoulder of mutton, then prayed without making wudu."
Eating, even cooked meat, does not break wudu.
Sahih al-Bukhari 211
Sahih... شرب لبنا فمضمض وقال إن له دسما ...
"He drank milk, rinsed his mouth and said: It has fat in it."
Rinsing the mouth after milk is sunnah, not a new wudu.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Taharat, section on what breaks wudu. Intoxication breaks wudu; eating does not.
- al-Mughni (Ibn Qudama), Kitab al-Taharah, chapter on what breaks wudu. Camel meat breaks wudu in the Hanbali school.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.