URGENT Chodosh Bulletin regarding commercial Yoshon flour for the new season

[Y. Herman]

*CHODOSH BULLETIN-16 Jun 09*

*From the Guide to Chodosh-Y. Herman*

*Chodosh telephone Hot Line 718-305-5133, email *yherman at yahoo.com 
<mailto:yherman at 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

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