[Chodosh] Bulletin from the Guide to Chodosh
GUIDE TO CHODOSH-YOSEPH HERMAN, HOT LINE 718-305-5133, EMAIL yher...@earthlink.net CHODOSH BULLETIN AS OF 2 SEPT 17 THE NEW PROBLEM WITH FLOUR A few weeks ago a very large amount of Gold Medal flour was recalled because of salmonella contamination. As a result, the normal supply chain of wheat to mills has been upset, as mills are trying to get wheat to make up the shortfall. For the Yoshon consumer, this means that the rules that have helped us for the past many years may not be relied on, at least temporarily. This affects national brands such as Gold Medal flour from KC and Heckers and Ceresota flours. It may also affect some of the Jewish brands. Therefore, until further notice, any flour purchased in groceries for home baking can NOT be assumed to be Yoshon unless (1) they have a Yoshon label under hashgocho or (2) have a dating code to indicate that they were packed before Jul 29 ’16. Some sample codes are given below. WARNING ABOUT BARLEY: The O-U has warned that significant amount of worm contamination has been found recently in pearled barley. We have been warning in the Guide for years that barley must be checked for worms before use, all year around. PLEASE NOTE that this is not a Yoshon-related problem, since the worms have been reported even before the Chodosh season has started and no barley has yet been stored for Yoshon use. NOTE TO MASHGICHIM: The revised Chodosh packing date for the Bay State flour mill in Clifton, NJ is Aug 22, not Aug 28. SELECTED DATING CODES FOR *ALL PURPOSE* FLOUR Gold Medal (all mills) Feb 7 ’18. Heckers and Ceresota Jan 29 ‘18 Pillsbury Jan 29 ‘18 Shoprite July 29 ‘17 Stop and Shop Jul 29 ‘18 For other brands and other types of flour, modify the code in last year’s Guide as detailed below, or call the Hot Line. THE FOLLOWING AS OF AUG 28 ‘16 In general, if you have last year’s Guide, you can use the package cutoff code for any item given in last year’s Guide and modify the date to conform to the packing dates given here for each type of grain, spring wheat, oats or barley. Just change the date and the year. If you do not have last year’s Guide, you may get it by sending email to chod...@moruda.com. To change the date, change the year in last year’s Guide by adding 1. For oats (except those listed below) subtract 6 from the date, for wheat (not noodles and pasta) subtract 3 from the date, for pasta subtract 2 days, for barley, add 7 days. Note that any package with a Yoshon label is Yoshon, with the possible exception of some items where the hashgocho for kashrus in the Volover Rav. THE FOLLOWING IS A STARTING SET OF CUTOFF DATES OR CODES AS THEY APPEAR ON PACKAGES BY MANUFACTURER. THESE DATES ARE TENTATIVE AND ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE (MOST LIKELY CHANGE TO A LATER DATE) -Quaker oats (hot cereals) Chodosh PACKAGING date Aug 31. Date on the package Feb 22 18. -General Mills cereals, including all Cheerios. Oats Chodosh PACKAGING date Aug 31. Date on the package Sept 6 17. Wheat in all General Mills cereals is Yoshon. (Note that the OU is working to arrange that all Cheerios sold in Israel should be Yoshon till pesach. This is to be confirmed later.) -Nature Valley Granola Chodosh PACKING date of Aug 31. Date on the bars (the date on the individual bars, not on the outside box) Sept 6, ’17. -Post cereals. Chodosh PACKAGING date for oats Aug 31, date on the package for oats is Aug 31 17. -Shoprite oats Jan 20 ‘18 -Village Farms, Sturms oats Jul 20 ‘18 -Kemach, Taanug oats Jul 20 ‘17 THE FOLLOWING OF INTEREST TO BAKERIES AND THEIR MASHGICHIM (IT RELATES TO BAKERY FLOUR, NOT THE FLOUR YOU BUY FOR HOME USE). The mills listed here may continue to produce Yoshon after these dates by special arrangement. -General Mills flour from Buffalo, NY may be Chodosh starting from Aug 29. -Ardent Mills in Albany may be Chodosh starting Aug 12. -Bay State Milling Clifton may be Chodosh Aug 22. *** THE FOLLOWING AS OF AUG 2 ‘16 THE OFFICIAL START OF THE NEW CHODOSH SEASON The Chodosh season has begun this year somewhat earlier than usual due to the agricultural conditions in the growing areas. Our estimates of the start of Chodosh for each crop are based on the reports from the US Department of Agriculture. This year, this information is enhanced by reports sent to me by several mashgichim, for which I thank these mashgichim. PLEASE POST THIS BULLETIN IN SHULS AND OTHER LOCATIONS WHERE THOSE WHO ARE CAREFUL ABOUT CHODOSH WOULD SEE IT. 1) *Freshly baked items using spring wheat*, including breads, challahs, bagels, rolls, pizza and some cakes and cookies may be Chodosh in the Midwest after the PURCHASE DATE of Jul 29. Elsewhere in the US, this date would be Aug 12. 2) *Packaged foods from spring wheat* may be Chodosh after the PACKING date of Jul 29, or the PURCHASE date of Aug 12. 3) *Noodles and pasta* may be
[Chodosh] Chodosh Bulletin Aug 15 16
GUIDE TO CHODOSH-YOSEPH HERMAN, HOT LINE 718-305-5133, EMAIL yher...@earthlink.net CHODOSH BULLETIN-15 Aug 16 In general, if you have last year’s Guide, you can use the package cutoff code for any item given in last year’s Guide and modify the date to conform to the packing dates given here for each type of grain, spring wheat, oats or barley. Just change the date and the year. If you do not have last year’s Guide, you may get it by sending email to chod...@moruda.com. THE FOLLOWING IS A STARTING SET OF CUTOFF DATES OR CODES AS THEY APPEAR ON PACKAGES BY MANUFACTURER. THESE DATES ARE TENTATIVE AND ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE (MOST LIKELY CHANGE TO A LATER DATE) -Quaker oats (hot cereals) Jan 10 ‘18 -Cheerios (all types sold outside of Israel) Aug 6 ’17. Cheerios sold in Israel, the OU is working to make that Yoshon. -Nature Valley Granola Jul 26 ’17 (the date on the individual bars, not on the outside box) -Shoprite oats Jan 20 ‘18 -Village Farms, Sturms oats Jul 20 ‘18 -Kemach, Taanug oats Jul 20 ‘17 *** THE FOLLOWING AS OF AUG 2 ‘16 THE OFFICIAL START OF THE NEW CHODOSH SEASON The Chodosh season has begun this year somewhat earlier than usual due to the agricultural conditions in the growing areas. Our estimates of the start of Chodosh for each crop are based on the reports from the US Department of Agriculture. This year, this information is enhanced by reports sent to me by several mashgichim, for which I thank these mashgichim. PLEASE POST THIS BULLETIN IN SHULS AND OTHER LOCATIONS WHERE THOSE WHO ARE CAREFUL ABOUT CHODOSH WOULD SEE IT. 1) *Freshly baked items using spring wheat*, including breads, challahs, bagels, rolls, pizza and some cakes and cookies may be Chodosh in the Midwest after the PURCHASE DATE of Jul 29. Elsewhere in the US, this date would be Aug 12. 2) *Packaged foods from spring wheat* may be Chodosh after the PACKING date of Jul 29, or the PURCHASE date of Aug 12. 3) *Noodles and pasta* may be Chodosh after the PACKING date of Aug 13 and the PURCHASE date of Aug 27. 4) *Barley*, such as pearled barley, may be Chodosh after the PACKING date of Aug 9 and PURCHASE date of Aug 23. 5) *Oats*: Oats in all products, including cereals, may be Chodosh starting with a PACKING date of Jul 20, PURCHASE date of Aug 3. (The known exception is for General Mills cereals including all Cheerios, for which the Chodosh packing date is July 31 or later.) 6) *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 *Dec 15* for *beer *made from barley malt and *Mar 15* for malt in other products. Even though pesach was late on the solar calendar this year, still almost all of the 3 crops of interest were planted after pesach and are Chodosh. The early harvest this year is due to weather conditions in the growing areas. *** 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. Then if you wish to resume receiving these messages from your new service, send a message from the new service to: chodosh-subscr...@jif.org.il. CAUTION: Some anti-spam filters require senders to respond to a challenge in order for their E mail to be received. This E mail distribution list cannot 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 facilities of the Guides to Chodosh.
[Chodosh] Chodosh Bulletin: Will Oats Be Yoshon Next Season?
OATS-MOSTLY YOSHON IN THE UPCOMING SEASON? A short while ago, in an earlier Chodosh Bulletin, I suggested that this coming Chodosh season perhaps most of the oats used in the USA may be Yoshon, having been planted before the deadline before pesach, due to the lateness of pesach on the solar calendar. It now seems that this prediction was not accurate. The raw data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicated that about 65% of the US oats crop was planted by 2 days before pesach (3 days before “yom hanaf”, the second day of pesach). Since there are 2 opinions in halacha of the deadline for planting in order for the crop to be considered Yoshon, either 2 weeks or 3 days before the “yom hanaf”, it was thought based on the USDA data that most of the oats used should be Yoshon in the coming year, at least according to the second opinion. That preliminary hope overlooked two vital facts: (1) much of the oats grown in the US is used for animal feed and (2) much of the oats used for human consumption is imported to the US from Canada. In Canada virtually all of the oats are planted later than in the US, after pesach. It is difficult to find hard data for how much of the oats planted in each state in the US is used for animal feed. However, it is a general consensus that this practice is common. Some data points of % planted for animal feed: Texas almost 100% (Texas has the most area in the US planted with oats), North Dakota=33% (2nd most area for oats), Nebraska=90%. With this fact factored in, it appears that considerably less than 50% of the oats planted in the US for human food consumption will be Yoshon this coming season. Add to this the fact that it is common practice to use large amounts of Canadian oats for cereals produced in the US, PLUS that very little old oats are stored from earlier years. Therefore, my earlier suggestion of hoping for most of the oats being Yoshon during the coming year is not correct. For spring wheat and barley, even the raw USDA data indicated that most of the new crop was planted after pesach, making them “rov” Chodosh. My thanks to Rabbi A. Schreiber for pointing out to me the animal feed situation, and to Rabbi D. Gorelik for reminding me of the Canadian imports. Yoseph Herman
[Chodosh] Chodosh Bulletin #2 for products in Israel
The following Yoshon under the O-U 1) Nature Valley granola bars made in Spain and sold in Israel are Yoshon if with Hebrew writing on the package. 2) All General Mills cereals, including all Cheerios products sold in Israel are Yoshon PROVIDED the label states that they are made in the USA and that they are imported by Osem. Yoseph Herman
[Chodosh] Chodosh Bulletin: Nature Valley Granola sold in Israel
The O-U had informed us that Nature Valley Granola bars sold in Israel and made in Spain are all Yoshon provided that there is Hebrew writing on the package. Yoseph Herman
[Chodosh] Urgent Chodosh Bulletin
The following urgent bulletin has just been received from the OU: The oats used in General Mills cereals has been Chodosh from most factories since the packaging date of Aug 3. (There is one factory that is later, Aug 15. We will issue a new bulletin when we find out the factory code for this factory.) This means that all Cheerios and other General Mills cereals that contain oats will have a Chodosh "Best if used by" date on the package of Aug 10 2016. This development took the staff the OU and General Mills by surprise since no one can remember having such an early Chodosh date from General Mills. We are still waiting for an update on the Chodosh starting date on Quaker oat meal and other oats products. Meanwhile, the general starting date estimate for oats being Chodosh in cereals is being scaled back from Sept 1 to Aug 4. More information will be posted as we receive it. Please note that it was the fear of such unexpected developments has been holding up the publication of the first issue of the Guide to Chodosh, which otherwise is ready to go to print.
[Chodosh] Sorry, Corrected version of Chodosh Bulletin
ד”סב CHODOSH BULLETIN-ADAR 5775 (Feb ’15) Y. Herman and C. Rosskamm. Phone: Chodosh Hot Line 718-305-5133. Email: yher...@earthlink.net Update of the Malt Problem The Guide to Chodosh has a full treatment of the malt problem. It mentioned that some poskim hold that malt added to baking flour, where it is used in tiny amount for its chemical action, is botul. The Guide gave date codes for some flours to serve those who want to be machmir on malt in baking flour. However, in many other applications malt is used for coloring and/or flavoring. In those cases there is more of a reason to be machmir and not to hold that it is botul. Such applications include beer, cereals, pretzels, candies and some baked products. When the ingredients list “malt”, almost always that refers to malt made from barley. In past years, all malt manufacturers agreed that the new, Chodosh barley crop is not used to make malt before Dec. 15. This year, one major manufacturer of malt told us that they are using new-crop barley as early as Oct. 15 to make malt. This malt is used in cereals and maybe other applications. Even though other manufacturers have still delayed the introduction of the new crop to their malt to Dec 15 or later, to be safe, we have urged consumers to avoid products containing malt if packed after Oct. 15, or purchased after Jan. 15. It is possible to make malt from other crops. Companies such as Great Western sometimes produce malt from other crops such as rice. We do not know how widespread is the use of non-barley malt. Nor do we know whether the production of those malts does or does not involve using barley malt during processing. We urge manufacturers and mashgichim of Yoshon products that use malt to start looking now into the possibility of substituting non-Chodosh ingredients next year for the barley malt now being used. It is also possible to avoid malt in applications when it is unusually used. One example of this are pretzels in which barley malt has been almost universally used for both coloring and flavoring. Liebers has been successful in having other non-Chodosh ingredients be substituted for barley malt (see below). THE OVEN PROBLEM For several years we have published a warning that some pizza shops and restaurants use frying oil for possibly Chodosh items such as spicy fries and then use the same oil for food that is supposed to be Yoshon. We have recently become aware of a similar potential problem. Pizza shops and some other establishments sometimes heat Yoshon items such as pizza in the oven at the same time as Chodosh items may be in the same oven. We have not yet had a chance to investigate how common this practice is. We urge mashgichim and consumers to look at this potential problem as it affects them. ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS TO THE GUIDE *4.1 Cakes, cookies and crackers* ב *Liebers* cookies and crackers without oats are basically Yoshon. However some items susch as crackers may have malt (check the ingredients). This malt may be Chodosh at this time. *4.2 Pretzels and Potato Chips* *א Leiber’s Pretzels all varieties *are Yoshon under the hashgocho of Rabbi Weissmandl. This includes the honey twists and multigrain products. All these pretzels are produced without any malt. *ד* *Herrs Pretzels* now have a code of November 24, 2014. This code is 14 weeks after packing. *4.3 Rice cakes * *ס Blooms Rice Cakes *that contain spelt are made in Belgium. We have no information as far as the Chodosh/Yoshon status of such products. *5.1 Regular noodles, pasta, mandlen and croutons* *ב Kemach Heimishe Egg Noodles *are Chodosh starting a code of 01-27-2016, under the hashgocho of Rabbi Nussen N. Horowitz *5.2 Chow mein noodles* *ב Kemach Chow Mein Noodles *are Chodosh starting a code of 1714I (17=day of the month, 14=year, I=September in alph.order). Exception: SPECIAL YOSHON PRODUCTION ONLY with code: 0915B & 1015B. Only those 2 codes are Yoshon after the code of 1614I. Under the Hashgocho of Rabbi Nussen N. Horowitz. *6.2 Whole wheat flour * *ד Shoprite Whole Wheat Flour *has a Chodosh code of April 18, 2015 (8 months after packing) *6.3 High gluten or bread flour * *ד Gold Medal Bread Flour and Bread Wheat Blend Flour *have a code of Feb. 27, 2016 (558 days after packing). Check the bag. If the best if used by date is followed by a factory code of KC it is always Yoshon. All other factory codes use dates given above. The Better for Bread flour line has been discontinued; however it is still being sold out. Any flour still on the shelves is Yoshon. *ד General Mills Flour *All flour manufactured in the Buffalo Mill is Yoshon through a date code of August 31, 2014. It has a Chodosh code of 31 AUG 4 BF. Bakery flour only has a code of 1 SEP 4 BF. This only applies to flour with a factory code of BF after the date code. This has been verified by the OU. *7.2 Bread and corn flake crumbs and matzo meal* *ד Taanug Corn Flake Crumbs *have a code of 1
[Chodosh] Bulletin from the Guide to Chodosh
CHODOSH BULLETIN-ADAR 5775 (Feb ’15) Y. Herman and C. Rosskamm. Phone: Chodosh Hot Line 718-305-5133. Email: yher...@earthlink.net Update of the Malt Problem The Guide to Chodosh has a full treatment of the malt problem. It mentioned that some poskim hold that malt added to baking flour, where it is used in tiny amount for its chemical action, is botul. The Guide gave date codes for some flours to serve those who want to be machmir on malt in baking flour. However, in many other applications malt is used for coloring and/or flavoring. In those cases there is more of a reason to be machmir and not to hold that it is botul. Such applications include beer, cereals, pretzels, candies and some baked products. When the ingredients list “malt”, almost always that refers to malt made from barley. In past years, all malt manufacturers agreed that the new, Chodosh barley crop is not used to make malt before Dec. 15. This year, one major manufacturer of malt told us that they are using new-crop barley as early as Oct. 15 to make malt. This malt is used in cereals and maybe other applications. Even though other manufacturers have still delayed the introduction of the new crop to their malt to Dec 15 or later, to be safe, we have urged consumers to avoid products containing malt if packed after Oct. 15, or purchased after Jan. 15. It is possible to make malt from other crops. Companies such as Great Western sometimes produce malt from other crops such as rice. We do not know how widespread is the use of non-barley malt. Nor do we know whether the production of those malts does or does not involve using barley malt during processing. We urge manufacturers and mashgichim of Yoshon products that use malt to start looking now into the possibility of substituting non-Chodosh ingredients next year for the barley malt now being used. It is also possible to avoid malt in applications when it is unusually used. One example of this are pretzels in which barley malt has been almost universally used for both coloring and flavoring. Liebers has been successful in having other non-Chodosh ingredients be substituted for barley malt (see below). THE OVEN PROBLEM For several years we have published a warning that some pizza shops and restaurants use frying oil for possibly Chodosh items such as spicy fries and then use the same oil for food that is supposed to be Yoshon. We have recently become aware of a similar potential problem. Pizza shops and some other establishments sometimes heat Yoshon items such as pizza in the oven at the same time as Chodosh items may be in the same oven. We have not yet had a chance to investigate how common this practice is. We urge mashgichim and consumers to look at this potential problem as it affects them. ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS TO THE GUIDE *4.1 Cakes, cookies and crackers* *Liebers* cookies and crackers without oats are basically Yoshon. However some items susch as crackers may have malt (check the ingredients). This malt may be Chodosh at this time. *4.2 Pretzels and Potato Chips* *א Leiber’s Pretzels all varieties *are Yoshon under the hashgocho of Rabbi Weissmandl. This includes the honey twists and multigrain products. All these pretzels are produced without any malt. *ד* *Herrs Pretzels* now have a code of November 24, 2014. This code is 14 weeks after packing. *4.3 Rice cakes * *ס Blooms Rice Cakes *that contain spelt are made in Belgium. We have no information as far as the Chodosh/Yoshon status of such products. *5.1 Regular noodles, pasta, mandlen and croutons* *ב Kemach Heimishe Egg Noodles *are Yoshon through a code of 01-26-2016, under the hashgocho of Rabbi Nussen N. Horowitz *5.2 Chow mein noodles* *ב Kemach Chow Mein Noodles *are Yoshon through a code of 1614I (16=day of the month, 14=year, I=September in alph.order). Exception: SPECIAL YOSHON PRODUCTION ONLY with code: 0915B & 1015B. Only those 2 codes are Yoshon after the code of 1614I. Under the Hashgocho of Rabbi Nussen N. Horowitz. *6.2 Whole wheat flour * *ד Shoprite Whole Wheat Flour *has a Chodosh code of April 18, 2015 (8 months after packing) *6.3 High gluten or bread flour * *ד Gold Medal Bread Flour and Bread Wheat Blend Flour *have a code of Feb. 27, 2016 (558 days after packing). Check the bag. If the best if used by date is followed by a factory code of KC it is always Yoshon. All other factory codes use dates given above. The Better for Bread flour line has been discontinued; however it is still being sold out. Any flour still on the shelves is Yoshon. *ד General Mills Flour *All flour manufactured in the Buffalo Mill is Yoshon through a date code of August 31, 2014. It has a Chodosh code of 31 AUG 4 BF. Bakery flour only has a code of 1 SEP 4 BF. This only applies to flour with a factory code of BF after the date code. This has been verified by the OU. *7.2 Bread and corn flake crumbs and matzo meal* *ד Taanug Corn Flake Crumbs *has a code of 14288 (14-year
[Chodosh] Bulletin from the Guide to Chodosh
Today is January 15. The Guide had recommended that all items that contain malt, for which the dating code is not known, may be purchased assuming that the malt is Yoshon up to the purchase date of Jan. 15. Starting today, one should seek confirmation that the malt is Yoshon. (Note, as mentioned in the Guide, that malt in baking flour, is not a problem according to some poskim.) Liebers pretzels may contain Chodosh malt. We expect more details about this within the next few days. B'Gan/Eden breaded cauliflower is Yoshon. Kineret brownies are Yoshon. Pride of the Farm cookies and Cream ice cream is Yoshon. Items produced under the hashgocho of Chug Chasam Sofer of Bnei Brak are Yoshon, even if produced outside of Israel, for example, Turkey. (Note, this applies only to this hashgocho from Bnei Brak) The Guide incorrectly stated that items from wheat or oats produced in Canada are Yoshon at least up to Sept 22. This is not correct.
[Chodosh] Chodosh Bulletin-Oct 1 14
CHODOSH BULLETIN-1 OCT 14 The following are corrections and additions to the Preliminary Guide to Chodosh for 5775 NOTE IMPORTANT CHANGE FOR QUAKER OATS CEREALS BELOW. *Section 4.1 Cakes, cookies and crackers* *Streits* matzo and matzo product are Yoshon under the hashgocho of the Kof-K and Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik. *Section 5.1 Regular noodles* *Streits* noodles are Yoshon under the hashgocho of the Kof-K and Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik. *Section 5.2 Chow mein noodles* *Streits* chow mein noodles are Yoshon under the hashgocho of the Kof-K and Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik. *Section 8.1 Breakfast cereals* *Quaker *oats cereals *manufactured in the USA* have a Chodosh PACKING date of October 1. (For Quaker Quick Oats, Oatmeal, Instant Oats and other hot oats cereals that are cooked, the package date is March 24 16-540 days after packing.) For items *manufactured in Canada* and sold in the USA, the Chodosh PACKING date is Aug 27 (package date for hot cereals is Feb. 18 16.) *Paskesz* cereals with a Yoshon label are Yoshon under the hashgocho of the O-U. For those without a Yoshon label, no information known yet. *Section 9.1 Frozen and other packaged products* *Mechel's Fine Frozen Pastry* Yoshon under the hashgochos of the CRC, Star-K and the Vaad Hakashrus of New Square. *Section 13.5 Chicago* *Tel Aviv Bakery* is Yoshon under the hashgocho of the O-U. * TO GET THE LATEST GUIDE TO CHODOSH BY EMAIL Send an email message to ONE of the following: chod...@sefer.org or chod...@moruda.com 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. Then if you wish to resume receiving these messages from your new service, send a message to: chodosh-subscr...@jif.org.il . 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 facilities of the Guides to Chodosh.
[Chodosh] Chodosh Bulletin as of 9 Sept 14
UPDATE AS OF 9 SEPT 14 (My apologies, I send out an unfinished draft today by mistake.) 1) IMPORTANT CHANGE REGARDING MALT Over the past several decades the Guide to Chodosh has stated that barley malt is Yoshon up to at least the manufacturing date of December 15. This was based on information gathered from many malt producers and is still the practice at some. Now at least one major producer of malt informed us that they will start using Chodosh barley to produce their malt by October 15! While products using this malt will not reach the consumers for some time, this is a warning to manufacturers of Yoshon products and mashgichim. Please note that the CHODOSH DATE RECOMMENDED BY THE GUIDE TO CHODOSH FOR MALT HAS CHANGED FROM DECEMBER 15 TO OCTOBER 15. This affects cereals and other items using malt. It also affects beer from barley malt (most beers are from barley malt.) 2. THE CHODOSH SEASON IS IN FULL SWING By now all products using spring wheat, oats or barley must be checked to make sure that they are Yoshon. This includes freshly baked items from bakeries, pizza shops and bagel shops that should have hashgocho for Yoshon. It also includes packaged items. These should only be assumed to be Yoshon if there is Yoshon hashgocho on the package, or by confirming with dating codes that the item was manufactured before the cutoff date. 3. PUBLICATION DATE FOR THE GUIDE TO CHODOSH We are still hoping to get the publication of the Guide completed by. Rosh Hashanah. We will send out a new email bulletin when the Guide becomes ready. Meanwhile, we recommend that you use last year's issue of the Guide for dating code information. For most products, adding one year to the dates and codes given should provide the correct code. To download last year's Guide, send email to chod...@sefer.org. 4. DUPLICATION OF THE LAST CHODOSH BULLETIN We duplicate below the bulletin we sent out on 12 Aug 14. This should still be valid. Note that for Cheerios cereals the oats will become Chodosh starting a packing date of Oct 20. Those types of Cheerios that have WHEAT GERM in the ingredients, may be Chodosh as of the packing date of Aug 18 (date on the box would be Aug 25 15.) ******* CHODOSH BULLETIN 12 AUG 14 The latest report from the US Dep't of Agriculture confirms that the harvest and spring wheat and barley have begun. That is allowing us to formulate the recommended Chodosh cutoff dates for the forthcoming season. These are given below. Note that dates given below for oats used in Quaker and General Mills (such as Cheerios) cereals may still change. FRESHLY BAKED ITEMS USING SPRING WHEAT including breads, challahs, bagels, rolls, pizza and some cakes and cookies. May be Chodosh in the mid-West (such as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis) after a PURCHASE date of Aug 18. Elsewhere in the US, Aug 25. PACKAGED FOODS FROM SPRING WHEAT not including noodles and pasta may be Chodosh starting a PACKING date of Aug 18, PURCHASE date of Sept 1. NOODLES AND PASTA may be Chodosh starting a PACKING date of Aug 25, PURCHASE date of Sept 8. BARLEY such as pearled barley may be Chodosh starting a PACKING date of Aug 18, PURCHASE date of Sept 1. OATS in non-cereal applications, such as oats flour in cookies, may be Chodosh starting with a PACKING date of Aug 4, PURCHASE date of Aug 28. Oat meal and other oats products from Quaker may be Chodosh with a PACKING date of Aug 19, PURCHASE DATE OF Sept 3. Cheerios may be Chodosh starting a PACKING date of Sept 15, PURCHASE date of Oct 1. Cereals from most other manufacturers, the oats may be Chodosh with a PACKING date of Sept 1, PURCHASE DATE of Sept 15. Remember, the oats dates for Quaker and Cheerios will probably still be revised. *** 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. Then if you wish to resume receiving these messages from your new service, send a message from the new service to: chodosh-subscr...@jif.org.il. CAUTION: Some anti-spam filters require senders to respond to a challenge in order for their E mail to be received. This E mail distribution list cannot 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 rece
[Chodosh] Chodosh Bulletin
Updates as of Sept 9 '14 1) IMPORTANT CHANGE REGARDING MALT
URGENT Chodosh Bulletin regarding commercial Yoshon flour for the new season
*CHODOSH BULLETIN-16 Jun 09* *From the Guide to Chodosh-Y. Herman* *Chodosh telephone Hot Line 718-305-5133, email *yher...@yahoo.com <mailto:yher...@yahoo.com>** * * *_URGENT CHODOSH BULLETIN_* *_regarding an important change in the supply of Yoshon flour to commercial establishments in the New York area for the forthcoming season._* *_ _* This bulletin is NOT intended for those who use flour for baking at home. It refers only to commercial flour used in bakeries and other producers of Yoshon products in the New York area. It does not affect Yoshon production in other parts of the country. As such, _flour distributors, users of commercial flour in the New York area and mashgichim_ please take note. One of the prime suppliers of Yoshon flour to commercial establishments in the New York area has been General Mills, out of their Buffalo, NY plant. Their “All Trumps” and other flours have been very popular. Over the past years, General Mills has milled large quantities of Yoshon flour under the supervision of the O-U which made sure that all of the Yoshon flour was milled and stored before any Chodosh wheat would be received at the Buffalo plant. The large quantity of Yoshon flour was stored by General Mills in a manner that ascertained that the flour would remain free of insect infestation, an arrangement that was also monitored by the O-U. From the commercial point of view, this arrangement had a built-in problem. Enough flour had to be milled and stored to cover the maximum anticipated needs of the Yoshon producers. This inevitably meant that some old flour would be left in storage at the end of the Yoshon season, by pesach. Possible losses in disposing of such old flour were until now shouldered by General Mills. In the current economic situation, General Mills is no longer able to accept such losses. Yoshon flour will still be milled for those who order it. General Mills will guarantee that no Chodosh wheat will enter their Buffalo plant until August 1 (an arrangement that will be verified by the O-U.) General Mills will no longer print a Yoshon label of the flour bags. Any bag dated July 31 or earlier will be Yoshon. However the flour dealers or others in the flour distribution/use chain will now have to take over the commercial responsibility of dealing with storage and the flour left over at the end of the season. This change can have major consequences: 1. 1) All bakeries and users of Yoshon flour must contact their flour suppliers urgently to make sure that the suppliers will continue to take orders for Yoshon flour if they and not General Mills will be responsible for storing the flour and dealing with unused flour left over after pesach. Under these circumstances, some flour suppliers have at this time stopped taking orders for Yoshon flour. We expect that this stoppage is only temporary, until they can adjust to this unexpected development. However, it is critical that those who were counting on using Yoshon General Mills flour as they have in the past should contact their flour distributors to check on the status of Yoshon flour for the upcoming season. 2. 2) Mashgichim will have to carefully check the manner in which the Yoshon flour will be stored at the new locations to make sure that the storage environment does not encourage the development of insect infestation. That responsibility was until now covered by General Mills under the O-U. Your urgent attention to this matter is required to make sure that Yoshon food supplies continue for the forthcoming season in the manner that we have enjoyed in the past. Yoseph Herman Guide to Chodosh * * 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 <mailto: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. Then if you wish to resume receiving these messages from your new service, send a message to: chodosh-subscr...@jif.org.il <mailto:chodosh-subscr...@jif.org.il>. 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 r
Chodosh Bulletin for Mashgichim only
*CHODOSH BULLETIN-15 Jun 09* *From the Guide to Chodosh-Y. Herman* *Chodosh telephone Hot Line 718-305-5133, email yher...@yahoo.com <mailto:yher...@yahoo.com>* * * *THIS MESSAGE IS ONLY FOR MASHGICHIM WHO PROVIDE SUPERVISION OF YOSHON* * * The new Chodosh season will start with oats becoming Chodosh at the end of July or early August. Wheat and barley may be Chodosh shortly after the start of August. I would like to ask you to urgently forward to me a list of all products and establishments for which you provide Yoshon hashgocho for the upcoming season. I need this by mid July to make sure that up-to-date and accurate information is passed on to the Yoshon consumer in the first issue of the Guide to Chodosh. You may forward this information to me in one of several ways: - Email to yher...@yahoo.com <mailto:yher...@yahoo.com> - Fax to 845-356-5999 - By US mail to Y. Herman, 20 Sylvan Road, Monsey, NY 10952 - By recording a message on the Chodosh Hot Line, 718-305-5133. A few months ago, I sent out the revised issue of the Mashgiach’s Guide to Chodosh and Yoshon by mail to many mashgichim and hashgocho organizations. (See details about this Guide below.) If you did not receive it and want a printed copy (instead of the email version that is available), please contact me. Thank you and tizku l’mitzvos Yoseph Herman ** MASHGIACH’S GUIDE TO CHODOSH AND YOSHON IS AVAILABLE The Mashgiach’s Guide to Chodosh and Yoshon has been updated and is now available by email or US surface mail. The regular Guide to Chodosh is aimed at consumers. It contains names of foods and establishments and tries to provide guidance about which are Yoshon and which are not. Conversely, the Mashgiach’s Guide contains almost no specific brand name information. Rather, it provides detailed technical information to help the mashgiach provide hashgochos for Yoshon. You are welcome to download a copy of the Mashgiach’s Guide by sending a blank email to ONE of the following addresses: mashgi...@sefer.org mashgi...@moruda.com <mailto:mashgi...@moruda.com> Printed copies of this Guide are available. Rabbonim and mashgichim can request that a copy be mailed to them free of charge via US surface mail by providing their full mailing address by either (1) sending an email request, or (2) recording a message on the Chodosh Hot Line 718-305-5133, or (3) sending a written request to Y. Herman 20 Sylvan Road, Monsey, NY 10952 (make sure that you include a note with your full address and the request for the Mashgiach’s Guide.) Those who are not rabbonim or mashgichim may order a copy of this Guide by sending $1 plus their full name and address to Y. Herman, 20 Sylvan Road, Monsey, NY 10952 * * 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 <mailto: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. Then if you wish to resume receiving these messages from your new service, send a message to: chodosh-subscr...@jif.org.il <mailto:chodosh-subscr...@jif.org.il>. 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.
Preseason Chodosh Bulletin-Correction on the % Chodosh in planted crops
Text Box: s"xc PRESEASON CHODOSH BULLETIN Guide to Chodosh, c/o Yoseph Herman, 20 Sylvan Road, Monsey, NY 10952 Address all subscriptions to: Project Chodosh Subscriptions, PO Box 150088, Kew Gardens, NY 11415 Hot Line Phone: 718-305-5133. E mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] June 08 TIME TO RENEW SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE GUIDE TO CHODOSH It is time to renew your subscription for the 3 issues of the Guider to Chodosh that we will ??"? publish this upcoming season. Please note that the cost of the three issues this year is increased from $17 to *$18*. Please mail your check and the renewal form at the end of this Bulletin to Project Chodosh Subscriptions PO Box 150088 Kew Gardens, NY 11415 All other correspondence should be sent to the Monsey address, listed at the top of this page. SUBSCRIPTION RENEWAL FORM Please fill out this form and return with your $18 check made out to ?Project Chodosh?, for the subscription to next season?s Guides. Mail to: Project Chodosh Subscriptions, PO Box150088, Kew Gardens, NY 11415 FIRST NAME:_ FAMILY NAME__ STREET ADDRESS*_* APARTMENT NUMBER__ PHONE NUMBER__ CITY___STATE_ ZIP__ PLEASE CHECK ONE: __RENEWAL (SAME ADDRESS) ; __RENEWAL (NEW ADDRESS); __ NEW SUBSCRIPTION *POTENTIAL MAJOR PROBLEMS FOR YOSHON IN THE FORTHCOMING SEASON* *_THE PROBLEM: _*In the previous years, your local bakeries have been using Yoshon spring wheat flour to produce their breads, challehs, rolls, bagels, pizza, etc. This year, due to the unusual world-wide wheat shortages, we are facing unprecedented shortages of spring wheat that has usually been available this time of the year to be stored for next season?s Yoshon. This is coupled with a corresponding unstable price situation in the futures markets for spring wheat. As a result, it is quite possible that methods used until now of producing Yoshon foods from stored Yoshon spring wheat may be curtailed or be unavailable to your bakeries this coming season. *_A MEETING WAS HELD _*on Jun 16. This meeting, which was called by the Guide to Chodosh, was held at the headquarters of the O-U. It was attended by the mashgichim that give hashgocho on Yoshon and by representatives of the flour mills, flour distributors, pasta makers and others from the food production chain. Some of the conclusions were: · The usual Yoshon spring wheat flour is thus far only being offered for the entire season by one mill, and only to those who commit to purchase this for the entire forthcoming season by June 23. It is not clear how many bakeries are prepared to make this commitment so early is the season. · A second mill can offer Yoshon spring wheat flour, but only until early November. · Even these 2 mills are only offering the Yoshon flour in the New York area. It is not known if any Yoshon spring wheat flour will be available elsewhere in the country. · A second option has been proposed for producing Yoshon baked products without the need to store spring wheat. This method would be applicable anywhere in the county, at any time, without prior reservation or commitment. This involves using a pure winter wheat flour (that is always Yoshon) and enhancing it with added ?vital wheat gluten?. This option has been used successfully by some bakers. However, it does require some experimentation. Not every bakery may be willing to experiment with such new methods. In addition, the price of this new method will not be established until more of the winter wheat is harvested, by mid July. · Gefen expects to have Yoshon barley over the entire Chodosh season. We will probably not know for sure what each individual bakery, pizza shop, catering hall, etc will choose to do until around sukkos time, around mid October, when the second issue of the Guide will be under preparation. _Even bakeries and other facilities that have been producing Yoshon for many years, may choose not to do so this forthcoming season._ This means that the first issue of the Guide will list only very few bakeries and similar establishments, only those that already have made the commitments to use the new methods of Yoshon production by early August. Even these may choose to change their minds depending on their experiments. Therefore _this puts an extra, new task on the shoulders of the Yoshon consumers. They must keep checking and rechecking the Yoshon status at their bakeries, etc, until the situation stabilizes. _We expect all facilities which will choose to discontinue Yoshon, to post prominent signs to that effect. It also means that the first issue of the Guide will become obsolete to a very large extent when the second issue comes out, hopefully by early November. Between the publication of the first and second issue of the
Preseason Chodosh Bulletin
Text Box: s"xc PRESEASON CHODOSH BULLETIN Guide to Chodosh, c/o Yoseph Herman, 20 Sylvan Road, Monsey, NY 10952 Address all subscriptions to: Project Chodosh Subscriptions, PO Box 150088, Kew Gardens, NY 11415 Hot Line Phone: 718-305-5133. E mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] June 08 TIME TO RENEW SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE GUIDE TO CHODOSH It is time to renew your subscription for the 3 issues of the Guider to Chodosh that we will ??"? publish this upcoming season. Please note that the cost of the three issues this year is increased from $17 to *$18*. Please mail your check and the renewal form at the end of this Bulletin to Project Chodosh Subscriptions PO Box 150088 Kew Gardens, NY 11415 All other correspondence should be sent to the Monsey address, listed at the top of this page. SUBSCRIPTION RENEWAL FORM Please fill out this form and return with your $18 check made out to Project Chodosh, for the subscription to next seasons Guides. Mail to: Project Chodosh Subscriptions, PO Box150088, Kew Gardens, NY 11415 FIRST NAME:_ FAMILY NAME__ STREET ADDRESS*_* APARTMENT NUMBER__ PHONE NUMBER__ CITY___STATE_ ZIP__ PLEASE CHECK ONE: __RENEWAL (SAME ADDRESS) ; __RENEWAL (NEW ADDRESS); __ NEW SUBSCRIPTION *POTENTIAL MAJOR PROBLEMS FOR YOSHON IN THE FORTHCOMING SEASON* *_THE PROBLEM: _*In the previous years, your local bakeries have been using Yoshon spring wheat flour to produce their breads, challehs, rolls, bagels, pizza, etc. This year, due to the unusual world-wide wheat shortages, we are facing unprecedented shortages of spring wheat that has usually been available this time of the year to be stored for next seasons Yoshon. This is coupled with a corresponding unstable price situation in the futures markets for spring wheat. As a result, it is quite possible that methods used until now of producing Yoshon foods from stored Yoshon spring wheat may be curtailed or be unavailable to your bakeries this coming season. *_A MEETING WAS HELD _*on Jun 16. This meeting, which was called by the Guide to Chodosh, was held at the headquarters of the O-U. It was attended by the mashgichim that give hashgocho on Yoshon and by representatives of the flour mills, flour distributors, pasta makers and others from the food production chain. Some of the conclusions were: · The usual Yoshon spring wheat flour is thus far only being offered for the entire season by one mill, and only to those who commit to purchase this for the entire forthcoming season by June 23. It is not clear how many bakeries are prepared to make this commitment so early is the season. · A second mill can offer Yoshon spring wheat flour, but only until early November. · Even these 2 mills are only offering the Yoshon flour in the New York area. It is not known if any Yoshon spring wheat flour will be available elsewhere in the country. · A second option has been proposed for producing Yoshon baked products without the need to store spring wheat. This method would be applicable anywhere in the county, at any time, without prior reservation or commitment. This involves using a pure winter wheat flour (that is always Yoshon) and enhancing it with added vital wheat gluten. This option has been used successfully by some bakers. However, it does require some experimentation. Not every bakery may be willing to experiment with such new methods. In addition, the price of this new method will not be established until more of the winter wheat is harvested, by mid July. · Gefen expects to have Yoshon barley over the entire Chodosh season. We will probably not know for sure what each individual bakery, pizza shop, catering hall, etc will choose to do until around sukkos time, around mid October, when the second issue of the Guide will be under preparation. _Even bakeries and other facilities that have been producing Yoshon for many years, may choose not to do so this forthcoming season._ This means that the first issue of the Guide will list only very few bakeries and similar establishments, only those that already have made the commitments to use the new methods of Yoshon production by early August. Even these may choose to change their minds depending on their experiments. Therefore _this puts an extra, new task on the shoulders of the Yoshon consumers. They must keep checking and rechecking the Yoshon status at their bakeries, etc, until the situation stabilizes. _We expect all facilities which will choose to discontinue Yoshon, to post prominent signs to that effect. It also means that the first issue of the Guide will become obsolete to a very large extent when the second issue comes out, hopefully by earl
Updates to the Post-Pesach Chodosh Bulletin
* * * * * * *UPDATES TO THE POST-PESACH CHODOSH BULLETIN#1* *13 May 08* On 12 May 08 I sent out a lengthy Chodosh Bulletin, which is reproduced below. In there I stated that it is most likely that this coming season the bakeries would not be able to produced Yoshon products as was done over the previous years, using stored Yoshon spring wheat flour. Probably, those bakeries that will choose to continue making Yoshon will have to learn new baking formulas to produce Yoshon from winter wheat flour plus a protein enhancement called vital wheat gluten. I was delighted to receive some feedback to my emailed bulletin. I hope this is a start of a dialog that will enhance the probability of continued Yoshon availability next season. Here I present some of the comments and questions that I received and my responses to them. Please keep the dialog going. COMMENT: It now appears that next year’s Yoshon situation is much more complex than in the past. How can you hope to support such increased complexity as a one-man Guide to Chodosh operation? In particular, how will you be able to encourage bakeries in communities away from New York to switch to new methods of producing Yoshon? Should you not organize a committee to work with you? ANSWER: I have stated for a long time that I can and do not carry the Yoshon scene in the US on my own. At best, the Guide can hope to maintain a background support role. That is one of the reasons that the Guide has been insisting on the participation of mashgichim to certify Yoshon. We have also been fortunate to have “local Yoshon contacts” (who are listed in the Guide) to help with the local scene. I am hoping that the impetus towards local adaption of new baking methods will be carried by the combination of the mashgichim and local askanim who will contact and work with the bakers. I hope to have the Guide continue in its principal task as a background information vehicle. I also intend to collect from experts professional advice to give to the bakers to help then adapt to new methods as needed. QUESTION: Since pesach was late on the solar calendar this year, is it not true that most of the spring wheat was planded already before pesach and should be Yoshon? ANSWER: Unfortunately this is not true. There are two halachic opinions about when a crop should be planted to be considered Yoshon. The more lenient opinion would require this planting to take place by 2 days before pesach, which would have been Apr 17 this year. I have been getting weekly reports from the US Department of Agriculture. According to these reports, by Apr 17 only 14% if the spring wheat had been planted. (Regarding the other crops of interest, 38% of the oats and 17% if the barley was planted by then.) That, coupled with the unusually low amount of Yoshon left from last year, assures that when the new harvest is complete, all three crops, spring wheat, oats and barley will be mostly Chodosh. QUESTION: (Regarding the commodity markets and risks of storing Yoshon wheat.) They will not lose money if the price goes down if they hedge in the futures market. They will lock in the current price. ANSWER: I am quite ignorant of the technical workings of the commodity and futures markets. However, I was told by the mills and the distributors that putting away Yoshon wheat or flour as usual is out of the question this year because of the volatility of the wheat prices. Does it not make a difference that the mills would not take out contracts for future deliveries? In fact the actual Yoshon wheat or flour would have to be already delivered and under the control of a Yoshon mashgiach before the new spring wheat harvest is available. Would they not, in this case, have to pay the current price at the time of the delivery of the merchandise? Then, if the price drops significantly with the new harvest, they risk being stuck with possibly unneeded expensive stored wheat. * * * * * *POST-PESACH CHODOSH BULLETIN #1* * 12 May 08* *From the Guide to Chodosh-Y. Herman* *Chodosh telephone Hot Line 718-305-5133, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>** * * With pesach behind us we should be in the relaxed time of the year regarding Chodosh, when everything is Yoshon until the new Chodosh harvest comes in starting in July and August. However this year is different. During this normally “off time”, we are focusing on potential future problems. I issued an alert Bulletin in March 08 informing the public that due to a crisis in the world wheat markets there may not be any Yoshon flour for the bakeries in the forthcoming season starting in Aug 08. This current note is an update on this situation. The conclusions thus far indicate that BE”H we should have at least a limited supply of Yoshon bakery products in the forthcoming season. It is most probable that bakerie
Addendum to yesterday's Chodosh Bulletin
*CHODOSH BULLETIN-6 Nov 07* *From the Guide to Chodosh-Y. Herman* *Chodosh telephone Hot Line 718-305-5133, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>** * * * * * * * * *THE FOLLOWING AS OF 6 NOV 07* * * *CORRECTED LISTING: **? **Bagel Nosh* 380 Clifton Ave, Lakewood. Bagels and danishes only are Yoshon. Under the hashgocho of the KCL. Donuts are not under hashgocho for Yoshon. *? Twizzlers* and other licorice made by Hershey or the Y. S. brand are from winter wheat and are Yoshon. * * ** * * *THE FOLLOWING AS OF 5 Nov 07* * * *WARNINGS:* * * Matzo meal has always been assumed to be Yoshon. We believe that this is still true for _real_ matzo meal. However, at least one brand of fake matzo meal is being sold under the brand name of Kerry. This product, which is under the kashrus hashgocho of the Kof-K, is really made from bread crumbs which may be Chodosh. We do not know at this time if there are other such fake matzo meals on the market. Neither do we have information yet on which products may use the Kerry matzo meal. We will publish any new information that we uncover via the usual email updates and Hot Line News recordings. It has been pointed out to us that Bumble Bee prime filet albacore steak tuna has soy sauce with wheat flour. The Chodosh code for this item is Aug 9 2010 (3 years after packing.) Please notify the Guide if you find other tuna or fish products that may be Chodosh due to the use of soy sauce that contains wheat flour. *PRODUCT AND ESTABLISHMENT CHANGES* */? /**Café Eilat* 12519 Burbank Blvd. Yoshon under the hashgocho of the Kehilla Kosher of Los Angeles. *? Empire Bagel Shoppe, * 2234 Warrensville Center Rd., University Heights, OH, 216-382-5138. Yoshon under the hashgocho of Cleveland Kosher. */? /**Greenspun Bagels* made in Baltimore, Yoshon under the hashgocho of the Vaad Hakashrus of Baltimore (Star-K). */?/ Grill Point*, 69-54 Main St, Flushing, NY Yoshon under the hashgocho of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens. */? /** Love Bakery*, 17519 Burbank Blvd. Yoshon under the hashgocho of the Kehilla Kosher of Los Angeles. */? /** Rosendorffs *bakery products made in Baltimore, Yoshon under the hashgocho of the Vaad Hakashrus of Baltimore (Star-K). /?/* 15^th Ave Food Corp**, also sold under the names Sterns**, Kohen**, and New York Ko**sher *All items are even without a Yoshon label. The following are NOT Yoshon: the six grain breads, the bran muffins and the oatmeal cookies. There are retail bakeries in Brooklyn under the Korn name. These bakeries are not certified as being Yoshon. *?** Adirim* pasta. The farfel only is Yoshon under the hashgocho of Rabbi Sholomo Gissinger. We have no information regarding other pasta from Adirim. */?/ Beigels Bakery*, 189-09 Union Tpk, Fresh Meadows. Queens. All cakes, danishes and challehs baked on premises are Yoshon. However Tibeca rolls are not Yoshon on Tuesday and Thursday. Under the hashgocho of the Vaad Harabbanim of Queens. (Note: This is different than the wholesale Beigels Bakery listed in the wholesale section above.) */?/ Benjys Pizza*, 78-72 Main St. Flushing, NY pizza only is Yoshon, under the hashgocho of the Vaad Harabbanim of Queens. *?** Chai Pizza*, 94 Rt. 59, Monsey. Yoshon except fried potatoes and possibly other fried items. Under the hashgocho of Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Horowitz. */?/** Chuster and Landau pasta* products produced by the Chuster Co. which have a Yoshon label are Yoshon under the hashgocho of Rabbi Abraham Z. Glick. However, soup mandlen are NOT Yoshon. *?** Dagim** *frozen products are Yoshon, if there is an O-U plus a Yoshon label on the package. *? Eden Cafe* at Owings Mills JCC, 3506 Gwynbrook Ave. 410-356-0010. The following products are Yoshon: pizza and pita. Must inquire as to the Yoshon status of all other items.(Star-K) *? Eden Cafe* at Park Heights JCC, 5700 Park Heights Ave., 410-542-5185. The following products are Yoshon: pizza and pita. Must inquire as to the Yoshon status of all other items. .(Star-K) */? /**Eilat Bakeries*, at 350 N. Faifax Ave, 9233 W. Pico Blvd, and 12109 Santa Monica Blvd of Los Angeles are all Yoshon except muffins and pasta, under the hashgocho of the Kehilla Kosher of Los Angeles. */? /**Essex on Coney**, *1359 Coney Island Ave., Brooklyn, 718-253-1002, The American side is Yoshon, including the noodles and pasta, but _excluding the egg rolls, hamburger and frankfurter buns, baguettes, fries, square knishes. _Also excluded are anything that is fried *or breaded*. *? **European Homemade Kosher, *Rt. 59, Monsey. All items kosher except items with egg rolls. Under the hashgocho of Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Horowitz. */? /Hoffman & Co. *catering, made in Baltimore, Yoshon available on request under the hashgocho of the Vaad Hakashrus of Baltimore (Star-K). *? J2 Pizza**, *1700 Madison Ave
Chodosh Bulletin addressed to those living far from New York
CHODOSH BULLETIN-5 JUN 06 Right before Shevuos I sent out the annual Pre-season Chodosh Bulletin. This is reproduced below. In it I repeated the note that I had printed in the last issue of the Guide to Chodosh of last seaon, namely that the Guide for the forthcoming season will adhere to new standards that will not list as Yoshon any food that is not under hashgocho for Yoshon, or whose Yoshon status can not be independenly confirmed. This change was decided after consultation with Rabbonim, Roshei Yeshiva and mashgichim. It was motivated by the increasing evidence that food producers have recognized the commercial value of the Yoshon market and these producers can no longer be in the category of mashiach lefi tumom(speaking in unbiased innocense). Such assumption was valid years ago, but not any more. I keep receiving expressions of concern from people living away from the Metropolitan New York region. They do not have the heimishebrands of packaged foods under hashgocho that are available in the New York area. They have been able to keep Yoshon over the years by relying on national brands with no hashgocho at all for Yoshon. Now they are concerned that they may be unable to continue to observe Yoshon due to what they anticipate will the greatly limited coverage of the new Guide. Firstly, I would like to refer you to the assurances that I printed in the Preseason Bulleting that is attached below. Secondly, I would like to ask the help of those living away from New York. Please send me a short list of those Yoshon food items that you are relying on in your routine menu which are not under hashgocho for Yoshon. This should be only items that are truly very important to you (like flour). Send me the full brand name of each item and a full sample package code for each, including possible factory code. Please only include items that were listed in the old Guides as being from winter wheat or otherwise assumed Yoshon. (Those items that you used with cutoff dates given by dating codes will continue to be listed in the new Guide, athough probably with a somewhat earlier cutoff date than in the past. These you may have to store a little longer.) I will do my best to try to get independent confirmation of these important items so that I should be able to continue these in the new Guide on a more reliable basis. Send these requests to me by email to [EMAIL PROTECTED], or by US mail sent to Yoseph Herman, 20 Sylvan Road, Monsey, NY 10952. Please do this a soon as possible to give me the needed time to investigate. I will not be able respond to individual submissions, but will try to include them in my research for the new Guide. Y. Herman ** PRESEASON CHODOSH BULLETIN, MAY 06 TIME TO RENEW SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE GUIDE TO CHODOSH COST INCREASES, NEW POST OFFICE BOX ADDRESS The Guide project does not accept any donations. Even though this is a volunteer project, there are expenses that need to be covered by the sales of the Guides. For many years, the cost of the Guide had remained at $15 for the three issues per season, or $5 per issue at the local distributors. During these years the number of pages per booklet and the cost of mailing have both increased significantly. Therefore we are forced to increase the cost of the subscription from $15 to $18 for the three issues. For those who buy individual copies sold by local distributors, the first issue will cost $8 and the remaining two will be $5 per issue. The $18 covers subscriptions to be mailed within the USA. For Canadian addresses, the cost of the 3 issues is $20. For Israel, Europe and other overseas locations the cost is $24. To subscribe, please send your checks made out to Project Chodoshto the Guide address given above. Note the change of address for subscriptions from last year. To have the three issues of the Guide mailed to your home send your full name, address including apartment number (if any) and zip code, and phone number, together with the amount of money specified above to: Project Chodosh Subscriptions PO Box 150088 Kew Gardens, NY 11415 All other correspondence should be sent to the Monsey address, listed at the top of this page. CHANGES IN THE NEW GUIDE As we noted in the last Guide of the previous season, major changes are coming in next seasons Guide. We will no longer list in the Guide an item as being Yoshon based solely on statements of companies regarding the Yoshon status of their products. Only information provided by hashgochos or from impartial sources such as the US Department of Agriculture will be used, in combination with experience we have accumulated over the years. People living far from the Metropolitan New York area have contacted us to register their fear that the lack of access to many of the heimishe brands available in the New York area would deprive them of sources of Yoshon. We will do our best to maintain useful Yoshon
URGENT CHODOSH BULLETIN-PLEASE READ!
URGENT CHODOSH BULLETIN 22 Aug 05 The new Chodosh season has come upon us unexpectedly early this year. Breads, chalehs and other freshly-baked products produced by local bakeries in the New York area and at most other parts of the USA may be Chodosh as early as August 22. In the Midwest, Chodosh may have started in such bakery products by August 15. The harvest of the Chodosh spring wheat crop has progressed unexpectedly rapidly. The Chodosh spring wheat has arrived at the flour Mills at an unusually early date that surprised even the professionals at the Mills. The starting dates of August 22 for most of the US and August 15 for the Midwest are estimated to be reasonable estimates. It is possible that some bakeries will start getting Chodosh flour at some later date. (However there is one flour mill, ConAgra at Martin Creek PA. This mill supplies the New York Area. It started Chodosh on Aug 15! The code on the ConAgra bakery flour bags would be MC081505. Those bakeries which are using ConAgra flour should check the codes on their flour bags.) It is important to check with your local Yoshon bakeries to make sure that the flour that they are using is certified to be Yoshon. Many bakers may not yet be aware of the early starting date for Chodosh. Packaged foods sold in the groceries that are made from spring wheat are not expected to have Chodosh problems until sometime early to mid September. The Chodosh oats and barley crops are also now being harvested. We do not expect Chodosh barley to be a problem until sometime in early to mid September. Some oats products could be Chodosh soon. However no specific product information will be available for at least one to two more weeks. The booklet, the Guide to Chodosh can not be published until sometime mid September despite the early starting season of Chodosh. This is because many of the people that we need to contact for information for that Guide are still away on vacation. In addition many of the people producing packaged foods will not yet have information about exactly when Chodosh starts in their products. Therefore we ask you to frequently check the News section of the Chodosh Hot Line by calling the telephone number 845-356-5743, and selecting number 1for Chodosh news. Those who have access to e-mail should check for any further forthcoming e-mail bulletins. Because of the unexpected nature of these developments we ask your help to spread the news about this. It would be helpful to many people if you could post copies of this e-mail in locations where those who are careful about Chodosh will see it. Yoseph Herman The Guide to 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]. 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 allowedlist 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.
Chodosh Bulletin from the Guide to Chodosh
BULLETIN FROM THE GUIDE TO CHODOSH 18 Mar 05 Liebers brownies, oatmeal cookies, oats cereal and sandwich cookies with oats, all under the hashgocho of Rav Weissmandl, are now Chodosh. Kineret onion rings and challehs under the hashgocho of Rav Weissmandl, are now Chodosh. Gross cookies with oatmeal with a Yoshon label under the hashgocho of Rav Weissmandl are Yoshon. Dependable Food corporation whole wheat flour with code of AL 03/14/05 is Yoshon. The following Alladin wraps with date of March0205 are Chodosh: whole wheat 10 inch size, whole wheat 12 inch size and roasted pepper. Both the whole wheat flour are available in commercial sizes only. Kedem vodka is kosher for pesach and is therefore Yoshon. Barilla pasta, the probably Chodosh code is Sept 15 06 (2 years after packing). *** 10 Mar 05 REMINDER: The Guide has been recommending that items containing malt or malted barley or barley malt should not be purchased after March 15 unless the codes indicated that the item was packed before Jan. 15. When codes are not known, Mar 15 is the recommended purchase deadline. This date is almost here. (By now it has passed.) The latest Guide has the following errors: Duncan Hines: The text on page 4 is correct, the text on page 34 is not. The correct information is: Most mixes contain wheat starch. The probable Chodosh packing date is Aug 20. For those Duncan Hines mixes that have Best If Used bydates, the codes are as follows. All cake mixes have a date that is 1 year after packing. In addition, brownies, muffins and cookies which contain nuts or candies also have a 1 year code. All brownies, muffins, and cookies without nuts or candies have an 18 month code However some items, instead of dates have a different code system. For these the Chodosh code for Aug 20 is 4233621 (4=year, 233=day of the year, 621=not important.). Kellogs corn flake crumbs, the Chodosh code is Jan 15, 2007 (2 years after packing.) * 4 Mar 05 WARNING: Nature Valley Granola bars sold in Israel: Page 13 of the 3rd issue of the Guide stated that Nature Valley Granola bars sold in Israel with an O-U and Yoshon labels are Yoshon. However the March 2005 issue of the Kashrus magazine reports that this is not true for some of these bars. Apparently, those that are imported by S. O. G. S. and are distributed by Eurofood of Rishon LZion have an unauthorized hashgocho and may be Chodosh. The same granola bars are being marketed in Israel by other sources and are Yoshon. HOW TO GET COPIES OF THE GUIDES BY E MAIL To get the latest Guide to Chodosh by E mail, in PDF format, send a blank E mail message to either one of the following two addresses: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] There is a Guide written especially for Rabbonim and Mashgichim. To get this by E mail, here, too, send an E mail message to either on of the following: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To get the latest Update, such as this one, send an E mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message type: get News.txt (Use the above spelling, including capital letter) You can also download these files, without using E mail by using the telephone modem of your computer to dial directly into our BBS, bypassing E mail and the Internet completely. Instructions on how to do this are given below. *** HOW TO USE THE NEW BBS SERVICE? You will need a computer with a dial-up modem (not DSL). We are also assuming that your computer is using some fairly recent version of Microsoft Windows (98, ME, 2000, XP). To access our BBS, do the following one time preliminary setup steps. 1) Activate the program Hyperterminal. (Start->Programs->Accessories-> Communications->Hyperterminal). 2) Enter a name such as Chodosh, and choose any icon. Click OK 3) Enter the area code=845 and phone number=356-9348. Click OK 4) In the Connectwindow, click on Modify. Then click on the Settingstab at the top. 5) In the Emulationwindow, click on the down arrow and choose VT100J(if not available, the second choice is VT100). Click OK 6) Click on Dialto dial our BBS. (If the line is busy, call back later. We only have one incoming telephone line.) 7) After you are connected, you will be asked to enter your name. You can use any name, but, unless you object, use your own name. Use the same spelling each time you log on. Conclude each entry with the Return or Enter key. 8) If asked if you want to create a new user account type Yand return or enter. 9) For password, choose Chodoshwhich you will enter twice. 10) Hit return to accept the default option C=Continue 11) If asked where are you from, enter your home town. 12) If asked if you want pages, enter N=NO 13) Keep hitting the Enter key until you reach the Bulletin Menu. There you will find 3 options. Choose 1
Chodosh Bulletin-Addendum
I forgot to attach the following usual addendum to the Chodosh Bulletin I sent out today. That is attached below. In addition, I would like to remind all of the following tentative Chodosh dates. These are based on last year's experience. More accurate dates will be sent out to this E mail list as they become known. Freshly baked products in local bakeries such as breads, challehs, rolls, bagels probably Yoshon if purchased up to: Sept 7 in the East and Far West, Aug 25 in the Mid West. Packaged foods containing wheat, other than pasta probably Yoshon if purchased up to Sept 15. After that package codes have to be used. Packaged pasta probably safe if packed before Sept 30, probably safe to purchase up to Oct 15. Foods containing oats may be Chodosh as early as the purchase date of Aug 15. However, they are probably safe if packed up to Sept. 15, probably safe to purchase up to Oct 8. (The reason for this range of dates is that US-grown oats is harvested starting late July, but many large companies use Canadian oats that is harvested much later.) __ 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 three 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.
Chodosh Bulletin-Season is about to start
Chodosh Bulletin 29 Jul 03 The new Chodosh season has officially begun with the announcement from the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that as of Jul 27 03, 20% of the US oats crop has been harvested. This means, that in theory, Chodosh oats could be entering our newly produced food at any time now. However, it is hard to gage the significance of this because only 1/3 of the oats used in the US is domestically grown. Most comes from Canada where the harvest is much later, mostly starting in September. In the past we have found that some US companies do use domestic oats. These do tend to have early Chodosh dates. However many major ones use Canadian oats with later Chodosh dates. Company specific information will not be available for at least an other 2-4 weeks. Based on crop progress reported by the USDA, we expect spring wheat and barley harvest to begin within the next 14 days. Our updated estimates on the fraction of Chodosh in next years crops is a follows: Hard red spring wheat (breads, chalehs, rolls, pizza, some cereals) 76% Chodosh. Oats 68% Chodosh. Barley 79% Chodosh. Durum spring wheat (noodles and other pasta) close to 100% Chodosh, the exact number can not be calculated accurately. We hope to publish the first issue of the Guide soon after the start of September. The Guide is undergoing a major format revision, in an attempt to make it more user friendly. As in the past, versions of the new Guide will be made available free of charge to be requested by E mail. However, with the significant format change, it is not clear now how the new format will affect the E mail distribution of the Guide. To order printed copies of the Guide to be sent to you by US mail, send a check for $15 for the three issues per year. Make the check out to Project Chodosh. Mail it with your name, address including zip and apartment number, as well as your phone number to: Project Chodosh Subscriptions, PO Box 297279, Brooklyn, NY 11229-7279.
Chodosh Bulletin
CHODOSH BULLETIN 4 DEC 02 The second issue of this season's Guide to Chodosh went to the printer (see Dec 3 below). Attached here is a list of the changes and updates to the first issue of the Guide for your information. Many of these you have seen during periodic updates that I sent out as bulletins to this E mail list. Others are new. SUMMARY OF CHANGES FROM THE PREVIOUS ISSUE OF THE GUIDE WARNING: Benzy's, Martisco and Unger barley changes. We suggest that you consult your Rav or Posek before using these barleys as Yoshon. We do recommend these barleys as probably Yoshon if purchased before Oct 5. The company refused to release the dating code therefore we can not use package codes as a guide. The halachic question to ask is the following: The pearled barley production has two basic steps: (1) Storage of the harvested barley grain in a silo. (2) Packing the barley into the 1 pound packages sold in the groceries. Step (1) was completed. Arrangements were made to store a large amount of Yoshon barley in a silo under the supervision of a mashgiach. Enough barley was stored and sealed by the mashgiach to supply the needs of these two companies for the season. Meanwhile, regarding step (2) the packing of barley is continuing throughout the winter Chodosh season, WTIHOUT ANY JEWISH SUPERVISION. The company guarantees that this barley is Yoshon, relying on the assurances of the Gentile managers of Martisco. This defines the potential problem area that needs halachic decision: The company, located in New York State has available the Yoshon barley stored for it in Canada. It can also acquire Chodosh barley, perhaps more easily, from closer sources. The Gentile managers of the company claim that no Chodosh barley is ever brought into the company facilities. Can we rely on the guarantees of the managers without further supervision that no available Chodosh barley is used? Ask you Rov of Posek whether this is an acceptable arrangement. The change in our recommendation from the first issue of the Guide is due to the failure of the company to follow through on the promise of a reliable hashgocho for their packing operations as well. Rabbi Cohen from Canada was contracted to supervise the first part of the production of barley, the storage for Martisco and Unger. That was done satisfactorily. However, neither he nor any other mashgiach as of this printing, was given the opportunity to supervise the actual packing of the individual packages. If there are any changes in this situation, it will be announced via the Hot Line news and by E mail. ADDITIONS AND CHANGES FOR YOSHON PRODUCTS Amnon Kosher Pizza is Yoshon, without hashgocho for Yoshon. This refers both to the wholesale sold in groceries and the retail store at 4814 13th Ave. Brooklyn. 718-851-1758. Barbara Cereals have a date on the package that is 8-9 months after packing. CANADA: For a completely updated and expanded reproduction of the Toronto COR Yoshon Bulletin, see Section 4.13 of this Guide Ceresota flour, see Heckers below. Chopsie pizza is Yoshon under the hashgocho of the Star K of Baltimore. The kishke is probably not Yoshon at this time. ConAgra, and Pathmark oats cereals, the revised packing date is Oct 14. Eden Soy and other beverages, the new code is 1 year after packing. Use the Chodosh dates on page 21 of the Guide and add 1 year to get the package code. For other Eden products such as pasta, the code for the probable Chodosh date of Sept 15 is 2258 (2=year, 258=day of the year). For items made in Japan the code is not available. Empire and Upscale frozen pizza (but NOT pizza bagels) are Yoshon under the hashgocho of the O-U. Empire blintzes are all Yoshon as indicated on package, under the hashgocho of Rabbi Yehuda Shain of the Double U Kosher. Gefen barley is is Yoshon with the package date of Sept 23 01 (note this date was supposed to have been the packing date of the Yoshon barley. The packer marked the year as 01 by mistake, instead of 02. This barley was packed fresh this year and is not held over from last year. It also uses a different coding system than barley packed earlier which is also Yoshon. That had a date code that was 1 year after packing.) Soy Sauce and the Hoisen Sauce are both Yoshon without hashgocho for Yoshon. Seven Bean Soup is Yoshon. Pancake and Waffle Mix Yoshon whole season. Whole wheat matzo, matzo ball mix and matzo meal Yoshon. Gefen and La Jolla croutons are from Israel and are Yoshon. Also Gefen bread crumbs are from Israel and are Yoshon. General Mills cereals come in a great variety. We are relying on you to check the ingredients to see if they contain oats, wheat GERM, barley, or barley malt. (Note that for General Mills cereals the wheat products other than wheat germ, such as wheat, whole wheat flour, wheat starch, wheat bran, etc are all Yoshon. The only wheat problem is added wheat germ.) Then choose the earliest of the follo
Preseason Chodosh Bulletin
TIME TO RENEW SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE GUIDE TO CHODOSH The new Chodosh season will start soon (see estimates below.) Now is the time to renew your subscription to have the three issues of the Guide mailed to your home. The Guide project does not accept any donations. All expenses are covered by the sales of the Guides. To cover some increasing costs, we are raising the cost of the subscriptions from $12 per year to $15 per year. (We apologize to those few people who already sent in their $12 for the new season, but we have to ask you to send in an additional $3 at your convenience. This is required to avoid any problems of ribbis.) Individual copies sold by local distributors will remain at $5 per issue. To subscribe, please send your checks made out to Project Chodosh to the Guide address given at top of the page. We have had difficulties in the past because not everyone included their full mailing address. Please fill in the renewal form given below. THE AGRICULTURAL SITUATION The progress of the new Chodosh crops is running about 2 weeks behind last year. That means that Chodosh should start later than last year (and the Guide will also come out later than last year, see below.) Even though pesach was somewhat late on the secular calendar this year, due to delayed crop progress, very little potentially Chodosh crops were planted before pesach. Specifically the amount planted before pesach was 3% of spring wheat, 6% of the barley and 3% of the oats. In terms of total crops available after the harvest, we anticipate that during the upcoming season, the majority of spring wheat, oats and barley will be Chodosh. Specifically, we estimate the percentage Chodosh will be 68% for spring wheat (used for breads, challehs, pizza), 67% for durum spring wheat (used for pasta), 68% for barley and 63% for oats. It is also noteworthy that 34% of all the oats in the USA will be imported, mostly from Canada. Canadian oats are also mostly Chodosh, however, the harvest is considerably later than in the US. This means that those companies that use US-grown oats could start Chodosh as early as start of August. However many large companies import oats for their cereals. Their Chodosh starting date is usually in early October. Last year, several of the major companies that used Canadian oats in their cereals included General Mills, ConAgra and Ralston. We have not yet checked on the arrangements of these companies for the new season. ESTIMATED CHODOSH STARTING DATES The following are preliminary estimates only. Corrections and updates to these will be posted when available on the News section of the Chodosh Hot Line and by E mail to those who subscribe to the E mail list (see below.) The corrected dates will be published in the first edition of the Guide. Freshly baked products in local bakeries such as breads, challehs, rolls, bagels probably Yoshon if purchased up to: Sept 15 in the East and Far West, Sept 1 in the Mid West. Packaged foods containing wheat, other than pasta probably Yoshon if purchased up to Sept 15. After that package codes have to be used. Packaged pasta probably safe if packed before Sept 30, probably safe to purchase up to Oct 15. Foods containing oats may be Chodosh as early as the purchase date of Aug 15. However, they are probably safe if packed up to Oct 1, probably safe to purchase up to Oct 15. (The reason for this range of dates is that US-grown oats is harvested starting late July, but many large companies use Canadian oats that is harvested much later, as explained above.) Foods containing barley (other than malt) probably safe if packed up to Oct 2, probably safe to purchase up to Oct 16. A NOTE TO OWNERS OF YOSHON-PRODUCING ESTABLISHMENTS If you are a producer of Yoshon foods, please note: · This year we will continue to have separate sections in the Guide for foods with and without hashgocho for Yoshon. However we will specifically recommend that Yoshon consumers buy foods only if they are under a reliable hashgocho for Yoshon, whenever the choice is available. (The Guide to Chodosh does not give such hashgochos. You choose your own mashgiach.) · A few weeks ago, we sent a mailing to the stores and bakeries in last years Guide warning them, that we are no longer able to make detailed phone calls to each establishment. We want to list all sources of Yoshon that consumers can use. There is never a charge for this listing. However, starting this year each store and other establishment is asked to send a fax to the Guide (fax #845-356-5999) to let us know their name, address, phone, what is Yoshon and which hashgochos, if any they have for Yoshon. Those who have not sent us the applicable information can not be listed in the new Guide. If you are a Yoshon consumer, you would do us all a service if you would alert your local Yoshon producing establishment to these points. THE E-MAIL MAILING LIST Those who have access
