פירוש על בבא מציעא 7:2

ואלו – workers.

These may eat [of the fruits among which they work] by the law of the Torah: one who works on that which is still connected to the ground [may eat of it] when the work is finished [at the time of harvest]; and one who works on that which is already detached from the ground [may eat of it] before the work is completely finished. This applies only to that which grows from the ground.
These are they that may not eat; one that works on what is still growing while the work is still unfinished; and one that works on what is already detached from the ground after the work is finished, and [one may not eat] of what does not grow from the soil.
In Deuteronomy 23:25-26 we learn that a person who is in another’s field or vineyard has a right to eat directly from the fruit of the field. However, he may not harvest the grapes or grain and put them in his basket in order to bring them back into his home. According to the Rabbis these verses deal with workers doing work in the field and not with normal people passing through another’s fields. A person just passing through another’s field does not have a right to eat anything from the field for that would be considered stealing.
Mishnayoth 2-8 deal with these verses and clarify in what situations a worker may eat and in what situations he may not.
This mishnah discusses when may a worker eat directly from the foodstuff with which he is laboring and when he may not. Note, this mishnah does not directly discuss an employer’s obligation to feed his employee which was a topic discussed in the previous mishnah.
1) One who is working with food that has not yet been harvested may eat of it at the time when it is harvested. However, he may not eat of the food while it is still attached to the ground.
2) One who works with produce that has already been harvested may eat of the produce until it has become completely processed, i.e. grapes turned into wine, olives into oil or grain into flour. After that point he may no longer eat of the produce.
3) Finally, a person who works with food that does not grow from the land, such as meat or dairy products may not eat directly from them.
All of these laws are learned exegetically from the verses in Deuteronomy mentioned above. Since the verses deal with fields and not with other types of food, the Rabbis deduced that a worker who worked with someone else’s meat or dairy products was never allowed to eat from them. Furthermore Deuteronomy 25:4 states, “Do not muzzle an ox while he is threshing.” The Rabbis compared an ox to other workers and decided that while one was not allowed to prevent an ox from eating while working, under certain conditions one was allowed to prevent a working person from eating from that with which he is working.

אוכלים מן התורה – in what they are engaged with.

גמר מלאכה – when they detach it, as it is written (Deuteronomy 23:25): “[When you enter another man’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you want, until you are full,] but you must not put any in your vessel.” At the time when you put [them] into the vessels of the owner, you may eat, which is when you tear/detach them.

ובתלוש מן הקרקע – and if you are engaging in things that are detached, you may eat of that thing as long as you have not completed the work required [to make them liable] for tithing, if it is something that is tithed, or as long as you have not completed the work required [to make them liable] for Hallah, if it is something that is given as Hallah, for as Scripture stated (Deuteronomy 25:4): “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing,” and since it is doesn’t say that you should not thresh while muzzling, we learn from it to make a juxtaposition between one who muzzles and that which is muzzled, and that which is muzzled to the one who muzzles. Just as the muzzled is an ox which eats that which is detached while it is engaged in work, so to the muzzle, who is a person, eats what is detached while engaged in work. And just as the one who muzzles, etc. And just as threshing is special, that which grows in the ground and its work has not been completed [to make it liable] for tithing and at the time when the work is completed , the worker can eat of it, so similarly all things that grow in the ground and whose work has not been completed [to make it liable] for tithing, and when it is at the time when the work is completed, the work eats of it, excluding the milking of animals and the presses thick milk in a bag to let the fluid run out (see Rashi to Shabbat 95a) and who makes cheese, which are not things that grow in the ground, and it excludes [also] one who separates the fruit of the date-palm and the dried figs that are attached together when their labor is completed [to become liable] for tithing , and excluding weeding garlic and onions , where he removes the small ones which have not grown from among the others to widen the space for the larger ones, for this is not the time of the end of the work. For all of these and ones similar to them, the worker does not eat them.