The following is the semi-final draft of the announcement of the start of the new Chodosh season. Mashgichim especially, please take note.
*CHODOSH BULLETIN-7 AUG 12* *From the Guide to Chodosh-Y. Herman* *Chodosh telephone Hot Line 718-305-5133, email *[email protected] In a departure from previous years, this year the Guide to Chodosh will publish only one for booklet for the season. Instead of the other two issues, we will send update information as often as needed to the paid subscribers and those on the email list. This is the first of those updates. *CHODOSH DATES FOR THE FORTHCOMING SEASON-EARLIER THAN USUAL* In the list below, the “Packing date” indicates that all packaged goods that were packed on or after that date may be Chodosh. The “Purchase date” is the first date for which we feel it may no longer be safe to purchase the foods without checking for dating codes. We also give the first recommended date to stop purchasing freshly baked items produced at the local bakeries. One can tell when the package was packed using the dating code printed on the package. Dating codes are listed each year in the new, updated Guide to Chodosh for a large number of products. However, we have the same problem this year, as we had in all previous years. We are not able to publish the new Guide until the mashgichim and other sources update their Yoshon hashgocho information for the new season. Based on previous experience, all such needed information will not be available until after Sukkos. Meanwhile we will do our best to bridge the data gap as well as we can with updates such as this to be mailed by US mail to the list of paid subscribers, sent by email and recorded on the Hot Line. (See below how one can become a paid subscriber to the printed reports. Reports sent by email are free of charge.) In the interim, those who have last year’s Guide may try to recalculate the codes given there for individual products to the current year and cutoff packing date. A copy of last year’s last Guide is still available by sending email to [email protected]. If you do use that old Guide, remember that it has not been updated. It should only be used for package code guidance. *GENERAL GUIDANCE* · All items made in Israel under a reliable kashrus hashgocho are Yoshon. Also included are items under the hashgocho of the Badatz-Yerushalaim, even if made outside of Israel.** · All packaged goods with Yoshon printed on the label are Yoshon, except when the only kashrus hashgocho is the Volover Rebbe, Harav Nochum Efraim Teitelbaum.** *LIST OF CHODOSH DATES:* . We expect the Chodosh grain to start appearing in products as follows: · *Oats* products *packed or produced* as of *Jul 26* may contain Chodosh. If *purchased* after *Aug 9* package codes should be checked. However a later date is applicable for oatmeal and oats in other cereals made by General Mills, Quaker and Mail-O-Meal, as noted below. · *SPRING WHEAT: *Packaged foods that contain spring wheat may contain Chodosh if *packed or produced* as of *Aug 9*. If *purchased* after *Aug 24* package codes should be checked. Items containing wheat, wheat germ or wheat starch may be Chodosh after this date unless it is known that the wheat is Yoshon. Examples of foods that are from winter wheat and are Yoshon are matzos and gefilte fish (Note: Some gefilte fish may use ground up bread crumbs instead of matzo meal. The only such brand we have found so far A&B was using only Yoshon bread crumbs.). However packaged products made by General Mills have an earlier date. See discussion below. · *FRESHLY BAKED *bakery or store-produced items including breads, chalahs, rolls, bagels, many cakes and cookies, and pizza may be Chodosh as of the *baking date* of *Aug 9* in the mid-West USA and as of *Aug 22*if made elsewhere in the USA. However, bakeries using General Mills flour may be Chodosh signifincantly earlier. See dicussion of General Mills bakery flour and other wheat products, below. · *NOODLES AND PASTA* may be Chodosh as of the *packing* date of *Aug 16*. If *purchased *after *Sept 7*, package codes should be checked. · *BARLEY*: pearled barley or barley in cereals may be Chodosh as of the *packing* date of *Aug 15.* If *purchased* after *Sept 1*, package codes should be checked. Last year, So far we have confirmed from the mashgiach that Gefen barley will be Yoshon the entire season. We are still waiting for confirmation for the other brands of barley that were Yoshon last year. For the following national brands of barley the Chodosh code is *Aug 15, 2013*: C&F, Jack Rabbit, Peak, Stop&Shop, Trinidad. For Quaker barley the code is *Feb 6, 2014*. · *BARLEY MALT* (also listed in the ingredients as “malt”) may be Chodosh as of the *packing* date of Dec 15. Package codes should be checked after the *purchase* date of Jan 15 for *beer* and March 15 for malt in other products. *REVISED STATEMENT ON THE OATS SITUATION* We had stated on several occasions that according to the weekly crop progress reports issued by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), about 3 days before the second day of pesach 55% of the oats crop was already planted. Therefore, if one holds halachically that crops that took root 3 days before the second day of pesach are Yoshon, then this year oats grown in the US should be majority Yoshon. However, it was first pointed out to me by Rabbi Yehashua Norman of the COR-Toronto that the statistics issued by the USDA are not meant to be precise enough to rely on the 55% figure to be maikil. However, even more importantly, new data was brought to my attention by Reb Arye Leib Schreiber that totally does away with the hope that most of the oats may be Yoshon this year. I originally published the estimate based on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) that indicated that this year about 55% of the oats crop was planted after the 3-day date. However, Reb Arye Leib Schreiber sent me USDA documentation that shows the early average planting date of the USDA was skewed by the fact that it included the very early planting dates of states such as Texas and California. It turns out that most of the oats harvested in those states are sold for animal feed only. Oats used for human consumption come primarily from the upper Mid-West states where the planting is later. Indeed, following the suggestion of Reb Arye Leib Schreiber I took the animal-feeds states out of the calculations and came up with a revised estimate. Namely *approximately 31% of the oats were planted before the latest, 3-day before 2nd day of pesach *date. This estimate is not understood to be precise. However, it is sufficiently less than 50%, that we are confident to believe that even according to the 3-day opinion, most of the oats were Chodosh as planted. Therefore, the final conclusions are that *all of the Chodosh USA spring crops, oats, spring wheat and barley were certainly mostly Chodosh.* * * *WHEAT FROM GENERAL MILLS CHODOSH ESPECIALLY EARLY THIS YEAR* We gave Chodosh dates for wheat products above as being Aug 9 for packaged products and as late as Aug 22 for bakery products baked fresh in the East and Far West USA. Those dates do not hold for wheat products using flour milled by General Mills. Indeed General Mills itself informed us that the Mills in the Mid West may be Chodosh as of Jul 23. In addition, the O-U verified that the General Mills flour mill in Buffalo New York, the one serving the Greater New York are, may be Chodosh as of Jul25. The last few weeks has seen the worst drought in many decades intensifying in the crop-growing areas. As a result, farmers are rushing to harvest all crops, including the Chodosh crops, earlier than in the past, hoping to save as much of it as possible. This may be the reason for the unusually early start of Chodosh at General Mills. In any case any General Mills *cereals * with any wheat products in the list of ingredients (including wheat germ, wheat starch, or wheat bran) may be Chodosh starting with the packing date of Jul 23. The package dating code for Jul 23 is July 30 2013 (372 days after packing). Freshly baked products from bakeries using General Mills flour may have been Chodosh starting Jul 30 in the Mid West and may have started Aug 2 in the East and Far West unless measures were taken to use only Yoshon flour after those dates. We have no way of knowing which local bakeries use General Mills flour, you have to ask. One of the most popular brands of such flour is called “All Trump”. SPECIFIC BRANDS OF OATS CEREALS The O-U had estimated that at least up to a packing date of Sept 15 , all the oat meals and *oats* in cereals made by General Mills, Quaker and Malt-O-Meal use Yoshon oats. Note of caution, this only applies to the oats in these cereals. Those cereals that have wheat products in the list of ingredients may be Chodosh from the earlier wheat date given above. For General Mills cereals with wheat in the ingredients (such as some types of Cheerios), the wheat may be Chodosh starting with a code of Jul 30 2012 (372 days after packing.) The wheat Chodosh codes for Quaker and Malt-O-Meal are too complicated and will be given in the full Guide. However all oat meals and other cereals from these companies that do not contain wheat in the ingredients are probably Yoshon up to the *purchase *date of Sept 30. HOW TO PURCHASE A PAID SUBSCRIPTION FOR PRINTED GUIDE AND OTHER REPORTS TO BE SENT TO YOU BY US MAIL The price for 1 Guide booklet (the only one to be published this year) plus update supplements such as this to be mailed to you by US mail is $16 if it is to be sent to an address in the USA, $18.50 to Canada and Mexico, and $22 to Israel and other overseas addresses. · By *Credit Card* (preferred). Either call 845-356-9348, or fax in your name, address, your phone number, and your credit card number and expiration date to 845-746-4205. (A few people have reported that they were unable to send faxes to the above number. We still have not been able to trace the reason for this problem. If you experience such fax problems, please accept our apologies and try to call in your order by voice message to the first phone number.) · Mail your order with a check for $16, $18.50 or $22, to Project Chodosh, PO Box 150088, Kew Gardens, NY 11415. Be sure to include your full name, address and phone number. **************************************************************** 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: [email protected] <[email protected]> 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: [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] <[email protected]>. CAUTION: Some new anti-spam filters require senders to respond to a challenge in order for their E mail to be received. This E mail distribution list can not provide such responses. Other filters eliminate all mass mailings such as this one. If you are using such filters, be sure to put these messages on the allowed list of your filter, otherwise you will not receive the updates. __________________________________________ 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. We also thank the sites moruda.com and sefer.org for allowing the public to use E mail to request copies from their facitlites of the Guides to Chodosh and the Mashgichim.
