New York – The OU has long maintained that raisins packed and stored under normal industry conditions do not pose a halachic infestation concern and may be consumed without further checking on the part of the consumer.
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Recent public reporting of widespread infestation in packaged raisins has led the OU to reexamine its prior held position vis-à-vis raisins. Following careful investigation, extensive testing and consultation with our Halachic authorities, the OU upholds its original position that raisins, when stored under normal conditions (cool, dry and clean environments) do not require checking for the presence of worms or insects. (עיין בט”ז יו”ד פד, יב)
Many food items, when packed or stored in warm, moist or unclean environments should be avoided until fully checked for the presence of insects, particularly when exhibiting telltale signs of infestation (webbing, insect feeding damage).
So let the raisin Wars begin. Ou against KAJ!
LetThe Raisin Wars begin….OU against KAJ
Uh Oh – the voice of reason. How will we cope with this?
This is really meshuge…now they are saying that even when the product has hashgacha, we need to examine the contents for subsequent contamination which might render it treif….so much for the value of hashgacha….maybe we will need to keep a magnifying glass or microscope on the kitchen counter
This was suspect from the get go… There are a lot of people, kosher and non-kosher eaters, who are careful about worms, bugs, etc. My wife and I are big fans of Whole Foods Market. It is one of, if not the cleanest, supermarkets I have ever been in.
But the positive side of this is it behooves us all to know where our food comes from, how it is processed, etc.
Sounds like Gefen and Mishpacha got a deal on some cut rate old raisins or stored them in their warehouse a little too long. I hate to say this but why does this not surprise me. And these are the Heimishe super kosher products that we pay a premium for.
Well well that’s just about what I said here in the first place. Boruch She’kivanti!
To be on the safer side it is better to leave the raisins alone.(Like a frum jew)
should I save up to buy the first ever “Raisin filter”?
I just spoke to someone at Dole and someone at Del-Monte. Neither of them knew of any world-wide bug infestation in raisins.
The person I spoke to at Dole told me that it is always possible for the Indian Meal Moth to bore its way into packages of raisins (or any other dried fruit) and infest them. He also said that Dole’s raisins are washed and then heated before being packaged. “If there are any bugs in the raisins, then the heating will kill them.” he said. He also pointed out that the raisins can become infested with the Indian Meal Moth when stored in a warehouse or in your pantry.
I mentioned to both of the people I spoke with that I had a letter from a kosher supervising agency that said that there was a world-wide bug infestation of raisins. Neither of them had heard of this.
so just dont eat raisaines nothings going to you i promise
Someone has some “splaining” to do at KAJ.
The moth described above can burrow into any food product on store or home shelf – that would not be a worldwide problem.
So, if I understand all of this correctly, my wife’s lucshen kugel with raisins and cheese is now considerd to be (a) fleishig becasue of the insects mixed in with the rasins or (b)treif, because the fleishige insects are mixed with the cheese. Would some talmud chochem please advise?
Yasher koiach to the O-U. It’s about time that someone stood up and took a stance like this, instead of just following like sheep. Kocha diheteira adif.
The bugs found in the raisins are “fruit maggots” or “fruit fly larvae”, they probably stick on to the grapes/raisins during the dehydration process.
What will happen to the “ruzhenkes mit mandelen” or with “mahn nishama iz nisht kein ruzhenke”?
Bugs me to no end!!
today raisins not long ago it was onions, tomatoes,lettuce ,strawberries, romaine lettuce and on and on – and- the microscope was invented only about 300 years ago
So why do we buy the heimishe brands – that just repackage the other brands after checking them – if if may become infested again & we need to check them again ourselves???
Everyone should learn how to check for bugs themselves in all fruit & vegetables (like people used to do in the not too distant past) and save themselves the added cost by buying the same products from non Jewish brands that are cheaper.
i will chosse to go along with kaj simply because of the whole Rubashkin story . Kaj left rubashkin when they realized that weismandel was tying thier hands . The ou on the other hand was still giving a hechsher after the raid. Go figure!
Unfortunately, since the Gov’t has banned certain pesticides and insectisides cuz they proved to be a health hazard. the rate of bug infestation went up to records high.
the facts are that raisins bearing a Hechsher were found to be infested. Consumers have no way of knowing if something is ‘really’ kosher. consumers really on the OU and other kashrus orgs. if the package has a hechsher, we buy it, otherwise we don’t. if the OU (or the others) cannot guarantee that the product that bears their symbol is not infested from the time the product is packaged until actual consumption then their they have no business endorsing the product as kosher
I have heard that they did extensive testing and found the problem is with the manner in which heimish brands stored the raisins.
thank you ou for the heiter it was outrages that an evryday life product is being baned and in genarel so many halaches lately is l’isir, its time for the dauynim to realize that we dont need any more things to be m’aser, there is no chucme to be a m’aser but yes there is chucme to be a matir,
“thanks to ou” this is an organazation that we really need not the other way arround.
the quote from yoreh deah 84 sief 12 is not correct.
I always go with the OU. They are frum sincere rabbonim who are NOT running a for-profit business. (or a non-profit that employs their entire family).
Other “rumor” websites have said that infestation was found in all raisins. I spoke to someone from a local vaad who told me that they checked and didn’t find anything. The OU did the same.
There is nothing wrong with assuring raisins if they really have bugs. Hopefully this period of global cooling we’re in will lessen the infestation somewhat.
Many of these rabbonim can check all they want, but most do not know what to look for. Only about 10% of Mashgichim are educated regarding insects. Most can stare a bug in the face, and say there is no infestation. I go through this every day with mashgichim. When I show them a bug in stuff they already “checked” they are shocked. Do you have any idea how many time I hear, “THOSE are BUGS? I never knew.”
I just spoke to the Rov who heads up a Vaad HaKashrus. He told me he checked. I asked him how he checked, he replied, “If you don’t see the insects crawling around in the carton, it is not infested.
I walked out of his office hiding my tears.
Most of the infestation does not crawl around. It is almost but not quite invisible,and remains motionless.
Isn’t it unbelievable how its always those trying to be frummer than G-d that say some of the most incredibly stupid things?
The other day, I was talking to a Rov who is working as Kashrus Administrator for another organization. He told me the raisins were not a problem because the insects were not seen as insects, but looked like tiny specs of dirt, and thus were not ossur.
He honestly believed that “visible to the naked eye” meant that it needs to be identifyable as an insect by the naked eye.
I corrected him, and explained that as long as one can see it as a dot, as long as one can see it in any form without a magnifying glass, if it is truly a bug, it is ossur. Just because we may use a magnifyer or a microscope to identify what kind of bug it is, or even that it is a bug, does not mean it is kosher. As long as a person with normal vision can see the insect at all, even if it just looks like a spec, it is 100% ossur.
He looked at me, and replied, “You know, you are right. I forgot that. I heard so many people use the IF YOU NEED A GLASS TO SEE IT, IT IS KOSHER that I started repeating it myself, and forgot it is not true. Thank you for reminding me.
Now, how are his mashgichim trained?
Don’t always believe those who immediately find a heter.
Sure, anyone can say something is ossur, and it take knowing halacha to matir. But one must matir responsibly.
Remember, to cause someone to be nichshal in the avaira of eating an insect is to give him 6 or more avairos per bug.
If Dole and Sun Maid Raisins are infested with bugs, why haven’t any of the major kashrus organizations discovered this? They have reliable bug experts too.