*CHODOSH BULLETIN-23 FEB 11* *From the Guide to Chodosh-Y. Herman*
*Chodosh telephone Hot Line 718-305-5133, email *yher...@yahoo.com The third and last issue of the Guide to Chodosh has gone to the printer. It should be put into the mail to be send to the local distributors and individual subscribers by the end of the week, by Feb 26 11. It is already available outside my home in Monsey for $5. Those in the USA should be receiving by the start of March. Meanwhile you can request a copy of the latest Guide by email, as usual, by sending an email message to ONE of the following addresses chod...@sefer.org chod...@moruda.com *CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS TO THE *SECOND* ISSUE OF THE GUIDE*** *Hashgochos* *Rabbi Eliezer Schneebalg* of England. All products under his hashgocho are Yoshon, including candy products. *HARAV HAGOAN ELYASHIV SHLITA RETRACTS PSAK ON BRAN* On Dec 21 we announced that we had received a psak from Harav Elyashiv that stated that wheat bran and oat bran have no problem of Chodosh, even if they come from Chodosh grain. It turns out that the psak was based on the incorrect assumption that such bran today is basically produced for animal food. When it was explained to Harav Elyashiv that such bran is very commonly used for human food, he stated that bran coming from Chodosh grain should be treated as Chodosh. Therefore, where oat bran is listed as an ingredient, the usual packing cutoff date of Jul 26 should be used and for wheat bran Aug 9, as has been used in the past in the Guide. *THE WHEAT STARCH PROBLEM* Wheat starch is used in many products such as cereals and cookies. It can be made from either winter wheat (Yoshon) or spring wheat that may be Chodosh. In some cases in the past the wheat starch in some products had been overlooked when declaring a product as being Yoshon. For example, many Kemach cereals where listed as Yoshon, at least until the malt becomes a problem, when the primary wheat ingredient was knon to be from winter wheat. It is now realized that some of these do contain wheat starch that may be Chodosh. Thus the effective Chodosh packing date has to be moved back from the malt date (Dec 15 or later) to Aug 9, the possible Chodosh date for general spring wheat products. Please check the list of ingredients of all products that you had assumed to be Yoshon. If they contain wheat starch then further investigation is needed. Of course, all products produced in Israel should still be assumed to be Yoshon, even if they do include wheat starch. (See late breaking news about wheat starch in General Mills cereals below under Section 8.1) *Section 4.1 Baked Products* א Grab-One Nutrition bars are Yoshon under the hashgocho of the Kof-K. ב Kemach cookies, snackers and crackers, the wheat is Yoshon. The malt may be Chodosh starting with a packing date of Dec 15. The three digits in the code indicate the day of the year, the Chodosh code is 349. ב Liebers baked products seem to have inconsistent dating codes. As a general guideline, all cookies and crackers use winter wheat unless they are made from whole wheat flour, use oats or are made in Brazil. Malt in these items may be Chodosh after a *purchase* date of Mar. 15. For Liebers pretzels, see 4.2 below. *Section 4.2 Pretzels* * * ב Liebers pretzels. Some pretzels list oat bran or barley in the ingredients. These may be Chodosh at this time *despite the Yoshon label* on the package. The mashgiach is trying to correct this situation. Other Liebers pretzels have malt that may be Chodosh after a purchase date of Mar. 15. * * *Section 5.1 Noodles and Pasta* * * *Warnings *have been issued by kashrus organizations that worms have been found in boxes of Ronzoni Elbow macaroni. (*This has nothing to do with Yoshon.*) We advise that all pasta and barley should always be checked for bugs. The Guide had for a long time stated that noodles and pasta in cellophane bags are more secure against bugs entering than cardboard boxes א Dependable and Masbia noodles and pasta are Yoshon even without a Yoshon label. ב Chuster pasta products with a Yoshon label and a CRC hashgocho for kashrus are certified by the CRC as being Yoshon. (Note that all products with a CRC hashgocho and a Yoshon label are certified by the CRC as being Yoshon.) ב Kemach Egg Barley has a Chodosh code of 020203z (02=Feb, 02= day, 03=year+2). *Section 6 Flour* א Kemach all purpose flour, both the wheat and the malt are Yoshon at all times. *Section 6.2 Whole Wheat Flour* ד Trader Joe white whole wheat flour Chodosh code Aug 9 12 *Section 8.1 Cereals* * * *LATE BREAKING BULLETIN: CHEERIOS AND OTHER GENERAL MILLS CEREALS:* As this issue of the Guide was going to print, we were informed of the following by the O-U: All wheat starch used in General Mills cereals becomes Chodosh only after the packing date of Nov 1 ’10. In addition, the oats in *regular*Cheerios also becomes Chodosh after the packing date of Nov 1. We are still awaiting word about the Chodosh date for oats in other Cheerios (such as Honey Nut, etc.) The table and other text in this Guide has not been updated to reflect this new development. To hear more details, call the Hot Line, press #1 for News and then #5 for more updates on Cheerios as they become known. Gluten free oats are regular oats that are grown free of contamination from wheat. As such it could be Chodosh if packed starting July 26. ב Kemach cereals, the malt has the Chodosh code of Feb 1 12 (1 year after packing.). The oats in Kemach cereals have a Chodosh code of Nov 1 11 (1 year after packing.) In fact all Kemach cereals which have wheat starch or wheat germ in the ingredients have an earlier Chodosh code, Aug 9 11. Kemach Sugar Puff cereal uses durum spring wheat. The Chodosh code is Sept 1 11 (1 year after packing.) ד Quaker *Instant* Oatmeal. The code system is now transition. Call the company with the specific cereal of interest and ask the company for the dating code for that cereal. The Chodosh packing date if made in the USA is July 26. For items packed in Canada the date is Sept 22. *Section 9.1 Frozen and packaged foods* ד Cavendish spicy fries, if made in Canada, the Chodosh code is 24-10-2010 (Oct 24 ’10). א Eden Onion Rings are Yoshon under the hashgocho of Rabbi Teitelbaum, the Nirbarter Rav, ד Food Should Taste Good Company products with oats in the ingredients, the Chodosh code is Jan 26 11 (6 months after packing.) For those without oats but containing wheat or barley (not malt) the code is Feb 9 11. For those without wheat, oats or barley, but containing malt, the code is Jun 15 11. ב Kemach pie crusts (all types) the wheat is Yoshon, the malt may be Chodosh starting with a code of 12-15-11 (1year after packing.) ד Sensible Portions Veggy Straws and other items from this company, the package date is 180 days after packing. For items containing wheat, the Chodosh code for a packing date of Aug 9 is Feb 5 11. א Golden Fluff products are listed in the Guide as being Yoshon under the hashgocho of the Kedessia of London, where they are manufactured. They are being marketed in the USA under the different hashgochos but are still Yoshon. ב Unger pie crusts Chodosh code 10308 (10=year, 308=day of the year.) *Section 9.7 Candies** * ס Joray Fruit Rollups and other similar licorice type candies usually contain wheat flour. Such candies, if not listed as Yoshon in the Guide may be Chodosh . *Section 10.1 Malt and Barley Malt* Malt or barley malt may be Chodosh as of a packing date of Dec 15. Therefore any packaged food whose package code is known may contain Chodosh malt if packed on or after Dec 15. Where the package code is not known, it may be assumed that up to a PURCHASE DATE of Mar 15 ’11, the malt found in packages on the grocery shelves is still Yoshon. (Beer is an exception, see below.) This year, since pesach is on Apr 12 due to the extra month of Adar, people should purchase enough malt containing items to last up to pesach. Beer is made from barley malt. If the dating code is known, it may be Chodosh if packed on Dec 15 or later, as mentioned above. If the code is not given in the Guide you should try to call the company to find out what is the dating code for Dec 15. If the dating code is not known, then beer * purchased after Jan 15* should be assumed to be Chodosh. (As stated above we usually recommended that for items containing malt it can be assumed that the malt in packages on the store shelves is Yoshon up to a *purchase date of Mar. 15*. This recommendation in the past we also extended to beer. However, since some beers have a manufacturer’s recommended shelf life of only 4 months, we are revising the purchase cutoff date for beers to *Jan. 15*, unless dating codes are known and it can be determined that the beer was packed before Dec 15.) *Section 10.4 Vitamins* Maxi Health Vitamin and nutrition products, the expiration date is 4 years after packing except for Probiotics for which it is 3 years. Therefore, for items containing oats or oat bran, the Chodosh code is 7-14 (July 2014). For wheat it is 8-14. For Probiotics the code would be 1 year earlier. *Section 12.1.2 Wholesale Bakeries in the New York area* Franczoz rolls and whole wheat bread given out with hospital foods are NOT Yoshon. *Section 12.1.4 Brooklyn-Restaurants and Pizza Shops* ח We were advised by the Kehila Kashrus that the following establishments in Brooklyn are NOT Yoshon: Ave J Appetizing, 1348 Coney Island Ave, Ave P Appetizer, 466 Ave P, and The Bagel Café, Kings Highway at E. 3rd St. *Section 14 Israel* Rumors surface periodically that the O-U somehow sees to it that cereals in general and General Mills/Nestle cereals in particular that are sold in Israel should be Yoshon. Here is an official O-U statement on that issue: 1. The OU does not supervise the storage of Nestle cereals to assure its yoshon status. 2. One should not assume that the OU takes responsibility for the yoshon status of cereals sold in Israel. 3. If the OU appears on a General Mills/Nestle cereal in Israel then it was manufactured and packed in the United States. Therefore, the same code used in the US would apply to those cereals exported to Israel (from the US). *END OF SUMMARY OF ADDITIONS AND CHANGES* * * THE EMAIL MAILING LIST Those who have access to email can have important corrections and updates sent to their email address automatically. To subscribe to this free service send a blank email message to: chodosh-subscr...@jif.org.il Those who have subscribed last year to the email distribution list do not need to renew this email subscription. *********************************************** To send an E mail message to the Guide, please address it to: yher...@earthlink.net. Before you discontinue using an E-mail service, please unsubscribe from this list by sending a message to: chodosh-unsubscr...@jif.org.il. 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