UPDATE FROM THE GUIDE TO CHODOSH Important new information is being received almost daily now. The Guide can not be published until all required information has been received. We currently estimate that the Guide will be ready around mid September. Meanwhile we plan to disseminate information on a frequent basis via E mail and news recordings on the voice Hot Line (845-356-5743). If you find the frequent E mails annoying, you may unsubscribe from the E mail list, as described below.
News as of Sept 03 For situations where specific Chodosh dates or package codes are not known, the following information may be used for general guidance. These estimates should not be used when more precise information is available in later sections. Freshly baked products in local bakeries such as breads, challehs, rolls, bagels probably Chodosh starting: Sept 9 in the East and Far West, Aug 20 in the Mid West. Packaged foods containing wheat, other than pasta: Definitely Yoshon up to a packing date of Aug 12. Probably Yoshon if purchased up to Sept 11. After that package codes have to be used. Packaged pasta probably safe if packed before Sept 15, probably safe to purchase up to Oct 6. Foods containing oats probably safe if packed up to Sept 14, probably safe to purchase up to Oct 5. Foods containing barley (other than malt) probably safe if packed up to Sept 14, probably safe to purchase up to Oct 5. Also note that the oats Chodosh packing date for Quaker has been moved earlier, to Aug. 12! ________________________________________________ News as of Aug 29 It is recommended that those who purchase Yoshon products to be stored should do so now and not wait for the Guide to be published. By the time the Guide is ready, some items in the stores may be Chodosh already. The following are current estimates freshly baked bakery products are probably Chodosh (unless baked especially from Yoshon flour) starting Sept 10 in the East and Far West. The same bakery date for the Midwest is Aug 21. Oats are probably Chodosh starting with a PACKING date of Sept 24. Probably Yoshon if purchased up to Oct 15. The known exception is Quaker oats for with the Chodosh packing date is Sept 9. Barley products are probably Chodosh after the PACKING date of Sept 23. Packaged barley products are probably Yoshon up to Oct 14. Here, however, a major word of caution is due. The following brands have a Chodosh PACKING date of Aug 23: Trinidad, Benco, Jack Rabbit, Pathmark, Peak, Tender Cook. News as of Aug 25 Updated estimates: Freshly baked bakery products such as breads, chalehs, pizza that are not baked from special Yoshon flour are probably Chodosh starting Aug 20 in the Midwest (such as Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland) and Sept 5 or later in the other parts of the USA. The earliest Chodosh date found so far is for spring wheat bakery flour from Cargill with a code of M2242 (M=factory, 224 is the day of the year for Aug 12, 2=year). The earliest date for bakery flour in the East is Sept 2 for Bay State Milling Co. We estimate that packaged wheat products should be Yoshon at least up to the purchase date of Sept 5. Dates are not yet available for oats and barley. Current estimates are that both should be Yoshon at least up to the purchase dates of Sept 10. These dates are subject to change. In any case, we urge people who store items that may become Chodosh during the season, to start their shopping now. It seems that the USA oats crop is very small in quantity and poor in quality. Therefore, most companies are now using only Canadian oats for which the Chodosh date usually starts in October. Last year, only Quaker started earlier. We are still waiting for Chodosh date information from Quaker. Quaker cereals sold in Israel have the same cutoff dates and codes as the cereals sold in the USA. For General Mills cereals sold in Israel, If the box has the O-U hashgocho symbol printed on it, then the American dates and codes apply. News as of Aug 14 The harvest of the Chodosh crops is very much in progress, with about 1/3 of the new spring wheat, about � of the barley and about � of the oats already harvested. I expect that some bakeries in the Mid West may already be using Chodosh spring wheat flour. More specific information will (BE�H) be forthcoming in the next few weeks in a series of these E mail bulletins, as well as news messages recorded on the Chodosh Hot Line (845-356-5743). Regarding the three crops of interest, we expect that about 82% of the spring wheat will be Chodosh the upcoming season. Similarly, 94% of the durum spring wheat (used for noodles and other pasta), about 80% of the barley and about 73% of the American oats crop will be Chodosh. ________________________________________ To send an E mail message to the Guide, please address it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Before you discontinue using an E-mail service, please unsubscribe from this list by sending a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Then if you wish to resume receiving these messages from your new service, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can request several reports by sending an E-mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Then in the body of the message type the command: "get" (without the quotes) followed by the name of the file that you want. Type each request on a new line. Make sure that you copy the file name exactly as spelled including capital letters. These reports are now available: get Guidelines.txt This gets a long report on Guidelines to Mashgichim on Chodosh. This has not been updated in the last two years, but is still substantially valid. get News.txt This gives the latest news bulletin, such as this note. __________________________________________ Project Chodosh is an independent activity, not affiliated with any movement or organization. We thank the Jewish Internet Fund (JIF) for allowing us to use their E mail distribution services. The JIF provides free email and web hosting to Jewish education and outreach organizations.
