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[Y. Herman]

The third and final issue of the Guide to Chodosh for the season is back 
from the printer. I hope that it will be mailed out by US mail to all 
printed-copy subscribers by Monday or Tuesday. So  most people should get 
it before the Feb. 15 "expiration date" of the previous issue. Meanwhile:

1) Those who want to get an E mail version of the last issue of the Guide 
should send an E mail message to:
chodosh-request at jif.org.il
In the body of the message type (exactly as show here)
get Guide.txt

2) Attached below is the front section of the new Guide that contains all 
of the updates from the previous issue. Those on this E mail distribution 
list have seen most, but not all of this information before. However, here 
it is all organized in more coherent fashion.

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A SUMMARY OF CHANGES FROM THE PREVIOUS EDITION OF THE GUIDE

WARNING: We have been advised that some takeout stores, pizza shops and 
similar food establishments that fry foods in oil may use the same oil to 
fry both Chodosh and other food items. For example, egg rolls and other 
Chodosh pastas may use the same oil as foods that one would not suspect of 
being Chodosh such as vegetables and fried potatoes. It has been stated 
that some of these stores advertise Yoshon and go to the effort of 
producing pizza, for example, from Yoshon flour, not realizing that the oil 
frying could be a problem. We would appreciate some feedback about how 
prevalent this problem may be. Please ask your local Yoshon pizza shops, 
restaurants and takeout places if this situation exists in their stores and 
let us know via the Hot Line or E mail.

WARNING ON CEREALS: Some cereals contain barley (the actual grain, not just 
the malt). Apparently these include Multi-Grain Cheerios. Check the 
ingredients for barley. The probable Chodosh packing date for barley is 
Sept 15. This date should be used if it is the earliest date for all 
possibly Chodosh ingredients. We have revised the cereal listings for 
General Mills, Kellogs, Post and Quaker to make such cutoff date 
determination easier. See Section 3.11.



UPDATE ON THE BARLEY SITUATION


MARTISCO, UNGER AND BENZY’S BARLEY STILL NOT RECOMMENDED AS YOSHON, DESPITE 
THE CLAIMS OF MARTISCO
We have received a copy of a letter being sent out by Martisco to “prove” 
that Martisco, Unger and Benzy’s barley (or any other brand that they pack) 
are Yoshon. The letter states that all this barley comes from Yoshon crop 
that was sealed by Rabbi Abraham Juravel (of the O-U). It invites all 
interested parties to check with the owner of the bins that contain this 
barley or to go to Idaho to verify this information. The fact is that Rabbi 
Juravel did seal bins of Yoshon barley in Idaho. However, we explained in 
detail in Preface A-3 of the Guide, barley takes several steps between the 
storage bins mentioned in Martisco’s letter and your grocery shelf. It is 
first transported from the bin to a pearling company that removes the outer 
shell of each barley kernel. This company does pearling of barley from all 
sources, most of them being Chodosh at this time. This is also done in 
Idaho. Then the pearled barley is shipped in bulk to Martisco in New York 
State which packs the barley into individual 1 pound bags. We have 
explained to the representative of Martisco and Unger that in order to be 
considered Yoshon when packed throughout the Chodosh season, we need to 
have reliable mashgichim verify that Yoshon barley that leaves the bins 
sealed by Rabbi Juravel is the only barley that is contained in the 
shipments that go East from Idaho and are packed by Martisco. This 
representative explained to us that they can not afford to pay for the 
additional hashgocho due to the small profit that can be earned by selling 
barley. We do not insist that they hire any mashgichim when they can not 
afford to do so. However, we do feel obligated to inform the 
Yoshon-observant public, that so far the company has not been able to show 
how they verify the Yoshon status of this barley in a manner that Orthodox 
Jews can consider reliable. We have contacted Benzy’s which originally 
claimed that their barley is Yoshon based on such assurances from Martisco. 
So far as we know, they understood our objections and are no longer 
claiming that their barley is Yoshon. The management of Ungers refused to 
discuss this matter with us and referred the questions back to the 
representative who does not return our numerous phone calls.

GEFFEN BARLEY YOSHON WITH HASHGOCHO (but see comments below)

Geffen barley is Yoshon at least up to and including the packing date of 
Dec 24 (code 24DE02, 1 year after packing). There is hashgocho for the 
Yoshon status of this barley up to a point. Normally, when we state that a 
product is under hashgocho for Yoshon, we mean that the mashgiach certifies 
the Yoshon status up to and including the packing of the individual 
packages that the consumer buys. The situation with Geffen is much better 
than barley without hashgocho (such as Goya, Jack Rabbit, etc.) but not as 
good as a hashgocho that extends through the packing stage. Specifically, 
as mentioned directly above, Rabbi Juravel of the O-U sealed a bin of 
unprocessed Yoshon barley grain in Idaho. Geffen sent Rabbi Shimon Peretz 
of Minneapolis to supervise the shipping of this certified Yoshon barley 
from the storage to the company that does the pearling (removal of the 
outer shell) in bulk. He also made sure that the pearling equipment was 
cleaned out from previous batches before the Yoshon batch was processed. At 
the point that the pearled barley left this processing plant packed in 
large containers, the hashgocho stopped. It was shipped to a company that 
does not have a mashgiach. However, according to Geffen, this company does 
not pack any other brand of barley except Geffen’s. Therefore, there is no 
chance of mixing up this barley with any other Chodosh batch.

Note that Geffen’s approach is better than Martisco’s arrangement. Martisco 
also claims that their factory only packs Yoshon barley. However, they have 
no hashgocho to assure that no mix-up of Yoshon and Chodosh crops occur at 
the pearling step, or to make sure that the pearling machinery has been 
cleaned out. It is also better than the unsupervised brands such as Goya, 
Jack Rabbit, etc. For the latter we have to take the company’s word of when 
Chodosh starts, whereas Geffen’s source of Yoshon barley is assured by a 
mashgiach.

MALT update. Cleveland Kashrus reported on one source of malt that became 
Chodosh as of Nov.1. As a result, I rechecked with several malt 
manufacturers. They confirmed that on special orders it is possible to 
produce Chodosh malt as early as October. However they do not recommend 
this to their customers and very rarely do it because, good quality malt 
requires aging that would almost always make malt Yoshon until Dec. 15 or 
later. Therefore, we plan to continue our earlier malt date guidelines. 
Namely, we will continue to assume that all malt is Yoshon up to a packing 
date of Dec 15 and probably up to Jan 15.


OUR APOLOGIES FOR MISUNDERSTANDINGS

For the first 28 years of the Guide, we tried to call each Yoshon store and 
establishment listed in the Guide each year to verify their Yoshon 
arrangement. Over the years, B”H the numbers of such establishments have 
grown considerably until we felt that it was beyond our ability to manage 
so many individual phone calls. (Each such nominal call often wound up 
being 2-3 calls until the responsible individuals could be contacted.) 
Therefore, this year we sent out two letters by US mail, one in July and 
the second in August. In these letters we asked the establishments to 
verify for us by fax or phone call their Yoshon arrangements. We clearly 
stated that those places, from which we do not receive a response by the 
printing deadline of the Guide, would be listed as “Not Recommended due to 
lack of information.” Many places did not respond to our mailing and were 
listed in the first issue of the Guide under such heading. We tried to 
clearly explain in that issue of the Guide that the only reason we can not 
recommend each such establishment is because the information has not yet 
been supplied. Unfortunately, many consumers only read the “Not 
Recommended” part and ignored the remainder of the explanation. We began to 
receive indignant phone calls from the proprietors of the places where 
consumers believed that the store claims of being Yoshon were dishonest 
because the Guide was understood as stating that they were NOT Yoshon. We 
tried to repair the damage caused as best as we could. (For example, we 
sent faxes to explain the true situation, with the goal of having the 
stores post these letters from the Guide, backed up by corrections on the 
Hot Line and E mail.) We sincerely apologize to anyone who was affected by 
this misunderstanding. Next year we will try to find a better approach.



OTHER ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS TO THE GUIDE

This is a summary of the changes that have become known since the printing 
of the last issue of the Guide. These changes are gathered here and listed 
in alphabetical order, to permit a quick review by the reader. The reader 
who is very familiar with the previous edition of the Guide may choose to 
merely review this list of corrections. However, for the convenience of 
everyone, each of these corrections has been inserted in the appropriate 
locations in the Guide below as well. In addition, in the body of the 
Guide, below, the attention of the reader is called to each item that has 
been corrected or added in this edition by bold print and a bullet marking 
next to the changed section. In a few cases where the changes are very 
lengthy, only a brief mention is made in this summary.


Amnon’s Kosher Pizza, 4814 13th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11219  (718-851-1758). 
All items baked in the retail store are Yoshon after Dec 12 (not before). 
All frozen pizzas are Yoshon only with Yoshon label. No special hashgocho 
for Yoshon.
·       Arrowhead Mills The following items are now from winter wheat only: 
Wheat bran, wheat germ, regular whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry 
flour, vital wheat gluten, bulgur, puffed wheat, cracked wheat cereal. 
Still from spring wheat is puffed kamut. Chodosh date for kamut is Sept 25. 
The code has changed. The new code is a date that is 1 year after packing 
for cereals and flour. Arrowhead Mills bits of barley, hull-less barley and 
barley flour manufacturer’s Chodosh date Aug 1 code 2131 (213=day of year, 
1=year). Revised code, Aug 1, 2002 (1 year after packing.)

Brooklyn Bagels, 1903 South Taylor Road, Cleveland Heights, OH 
(216-321-0738). All challehs and bagels are Yoshon. Some pastry products 
are also Yoshon. Under the hashgocho for Yoshon of Cleveland Kosher.
Flour USA high gluten flour sold in New York area groceries in brown paper 
bags of size 5 and 6 pounds are now Yoshon even without a Yoshon label. 
Although there is no special hashgocho for Yoshon, they state that they are 
repackaging high gluten flour of the type used by bakeries that has O-U 
hashgocho for Yoshon.

Miami Beach, Florida update:
Kosher World, 514-520 Arthur Godfrey Rd. (41st St), (305) 532-2210. All 
baked products except Seven and Eight Grain Breads, are Yoshon under the 
hashgocho of Rabbi M. Spitz. To make sure that Yoshon is still available, 
ask Avrohom Koot at the store, or Rabbi Spitz  Ilana’s Bakery, 5650 
Sterling Rd., Hollywood FL, (954) 964-5489. Everything baked on premises is 
Yoshon, with the exception of puffed pastry and phylo dough. However, the 
Yoshon flour supply may run out before pesach. To check on the current 
availability to Yoshon, ask Ilana. Mozart Bakery, Shibolet Bakery, The 
Wheat Bakery (3 names for the same company), 6636 NW 20th Ave., Ft. 
Lauderdale, FL (954)349-1778. This company imports Yoshon frozen dough 
products that are produced under the hashgocho of the Chug Chasam Sofer in 
Israel. These products are available in frozen form in groceries. The 
bakery also sells these in baked form. It also has installed special ovens 
in several locations in Southern Florida, where these Yoshon dough products 
can be baked on customer order. BE Kosher sells a range of Yoshon products 
including Franczoz Yoshon breads.

General Mills cereals date on the package for Honey Nut Chex is 310 days 
after packing, for Multi-Grain Chex, Rice Chex and Fiber1 it is 372 days 
after packing.
Gold Medal flours from factory K. All purpose flour and Better for Bread 
flours, Chodosh date Sept 13.
Kemach updates: WARNING: Kemach Cho-co Munchies cereal contains wheat 
starch that is probably Chodosh starting with a packing date of Aug 26, 
code Aug 26, 2002 (1 year after packing). For all Kemach cereals that use 
malt, the Chodosh packing date for the malt is March 1, 02, the code is 1 
year after packing. All 10 pound packages of bow ties, egg barley (a noodle 
product), fine noodles, and medium noodles, where the code ends with a “Z” 
have a Chodosh packing date of Nov. 1, code 3051xxZ (305=day of year, 
1=year, xx not important.)  All crackers and breadsticks are Yoshon, 
including the malt, to pesach. All Kemach High Gluten flour in 5 pound bags 
is Yoshon including the malt, to pesach. Regular flour, the wheat flour is 
Yoshon to pesach, the malt has a Chodosh date of Feb 1 02 (code, Feb. 1 
03). Kemach vegetable soup mix, minestrone soup mix, noodle soup mix, onion 
soup mix, Chodosh date is Dec 5, code 3393 (339=day of year, 3=2001+2 years).
Kinneret and Kosherrific fish products are all Yoshon under the hashgocho 
for Yoshon of Rav Weissmandl. We have no information about other products 
from these companies.
Lakewood Heimshe Bake Shop, 225 2nd St. Lakewood, (732) 905-9057. This 
bakery has now provided the requested information: All challahs, rolls, 
cakes, pastries, as well as 2 lb rye breads, white bread, whole wheat 
bread, club bread are all Yoshon.  The kashrus hashgocho does not take 
responsibility for Yoshon. However, six-grain breads, breads not listed 
above and bran muffins are NOT Yoshon.
Landau whole wheat pasta is Yoshon, since the only packing before pesach 
occurred in September before Chodosh became a problem. Landau whole-wheat 
crackers are also Yoshon. There is no special hashgocho for Yoshon.
Le Chaim Fruit Bars are Yoshon under the hashgocho for Yoshon of the Mechon 
L’Harooh of Monsey. The Mechon informed me that their staff was trained by 
the Badatz of Yerushalaim and will also insist that everything under their 
kashrus hashgocho must also always be Yoshon.
Liebers update: The following are Yoshon under hashgocho of Rav Weissmandl: 
All cereals, soups are Yoshon up to pesach. All cookies, crackers to 
pesach, except those containing oats that should be considered Chodosh now. 
This includes brownies made in Canada. All candies to pesach. All bread 
crumbs to pesach.
Meal Mart takeout store, 4621 13th Ave, Brooklyn, all cooked and baked 
items are Yoshon INCLUDING the egg rolls. In other stores egg rolls may be 
a problem (ask).
Meisner Take-Home and Catering, 5410 New Utrecht Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11219, 
(718) 436-5592. The following items are Yoshon, but without a special 
mashgiach for Yoshon. Cakes, cookies, kugel, cholent, breaded chickens and 
cutlets, knishes, chalehs. All pasta that is used is also Yoshon.
Mendelson’s frozen products are all Yoshon under the hashgocho for Yoshon 
of the O-U and Rabbi Gruber. This also includes items such as falafel balls.
Old City pasta Yoshon at all times, under the hashgocho of Rav Weissmandl.
Osem Pasta from Italy and elsewhere, if under the hashgocho for kashrus of 
the Badatz of Yerushalaim, are always Yoshon.
Paskesz Cookies. The Guide contains conflicting statements. In fact, all 
these cookies under the hashgocho for kashrus of Rav Gruber are Yoshon even 
without a Yoshon label, except for those containing oats or graham flour. 
Paskesz Twizzlers and other licorice under the kosher hashgocho of Rav 
Gruber are also Yoshon.
PASTAS: The following pastas: Prince Creamette, Ronzoni, San Giorgio, P&R, 
Light N’Fluffy, Ideal, American Beauty, Skinner, Mrs. Weiss, Goodman have 
the Chodosh packing date of Nov, 12. The code is 1 11 12xxx (1=2001, 
11=Nov. 12=date, xxx not important.
Quaker Toasted Oat Meal and Toasted Oat Bran cereals, the Chodosh date for 
oats is Aug 21. The code is May 21, 2002 (9 months after packing.)
Savion Croutons probable Chodosh date Oct 27, code P3001 (P=not important, 
300=day of the year, 1=year.)
Setton International licorice is under the hashgocho for Yoshon of Rav 
Weissmandl.
Smackin Good Waffles are Yoshon under the hashgocho for Yoshon of Rav 
Weissmandl.
Swiss Gourmet Italian Cookies are Yoshon with Yoshon label only. No special 
hashgocho for Yoshon.
Taanug Cereals: All Taanug cereals are Yoshon with the exception of those 
containing oats or malt. The date on the packages is 1 year after packing. 
The probable Chodosh code for oats in the ingredients is Sept 21, 2002. For 
malt but no oats, the probable Chodosh code is Jan. 15 2003. There is no 
special hashgocho for Yoshon.
Tradition Soups the Guide correctly lists the date on the package as being 
2 years after packing, but gives the incorrect example. The probable 
Chodosh code should have been, Aug 2003.
Unger items such as kishke, cereals, pie and tart shells and Dr. Praeger 
fish stick may be Chodosh at this time, according to their mashgiach.
Willmark makes mixes used by bakeries. The following mixes are Chodosh at 
this time: donut mix, yeast raised dough. These mixes are available in 
Yoshon form only to those establishments that reserved Yoshon before the 
start of the Chodosh season. Cake mixes are always Yoshon.

__________________________________________
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get Guidelines.txt
This gets a long report on Guidelines to Mashgichim on Chodosh. This has 
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This gets the full latest Guide to Chodosh, dated 16 Sept 01


get News.txt
This gives the latest news bulletin, such as this note.
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