‫מאמר‬

‫שופרא דשופרא‬
‫לבאר אל העם המכשול הגדול שנעשה בפסח תש"ע שעבר‬

‫ולזרז את אחינו לעשות חיל שלא יהא חוטא נשכר‬

‫‪Any comments please mail to‬‬

‫‪comments@bohirus.com‬‬
INTRODUCTION
We are now living in an age where the mantra of the ‫ עולם‬is a ‫ גולם‬has
reached record heights. The results of achieving this status has been that
the merit system has been destroyed and today many people who were at
the bottom of the Bais Medrash have now become Poskim and Rabbonim.
The producers of food products have taken advantage of the situation and
are now employing these failures as their Mashgichim and Rabbonim. This
past Pesach the ‫ עולם‬was subjected to a product being labeled ‫כשר לפסח‬
based on a blanket statement without any explanation as to how this ‫ היתר‬is
in accordance with the ‫ש"ע‬. The issue was cocoa imported from China
without any supervision at the time of manufacture or at the time of
packaging to prevent adulteration with wheat products or any other products
prohibited on Pesach. This article summarizes the basic ‫ הלכות‬of
adulteration and suggests a response from the ‫עולם‬. It is important for the
‫ עולם‬to respond and demonstrate that they are not in the category of a
‫גולם‬. This will then force producers to only hire people who are
knowledgeable in ‫ הלכה‬.

ADULTERATION IN ‫הלכה‬
There are many presumptions the Torah requires us to make regarding the
ethical behavior of an ‫ עכו"ם‬. One of the most relevant is adulteration
motivated by a profit. The ‫ ש"ע‬in ‫ יו"ד סימן קי"ד סעיף ד‬states

‫כל אלו המשקים וכן החומץ של שכר אסור לקנותו מהם אם דמיהם יקרים מדמי‬

‫היין שאנו חוששים שמא עירב בהן יין‬

Loosely translated this says “the aforementioned drinks plus vinegar made
from ‫ שכר‬cannot be purchased from them(‫ ( עכו"ם‬where the price of these
drinks is higher then wine because we are scared that wine is mixed in” It
would therefore be incumbent for any Jew distributing these drinks to insure
that this adulteration did not take place.

I would like to quote a ‫ נודע ביהודה או"ח קמא סימן כ"ד‬brought down in the
‫ ח"א סימן קכ"ז ס"ק ג‬as an example of the way things should be done. This
is only an example because it refers to the status of sugar and the possible
adulteration of sugar today is not relevant to the issues we will be
discussing.

‫ואמנם על הצוקר הבא כמות שהוא כמו חול טרם שנעשה בו מלאכה כבר פשט‬

‫ כי לפי הנשמע שם‬.‫המנהג שצריך להביא כתב הכשר מהמבורג או מאמשטרדם‬

‫במקום גדולו הקמח יותר ביוקר כפלי כפלים מהצוקר ולכן אין בו חשש תערובות‬

‫ ולכן המנהג כאשר‬,‫ אבל במדינה זו יש לחוש שמא זייפו בו תערובות קמח‬.‫קמח‬

‫הוא מובא בספינה ממקום גדולו להמבורג או לאמשטרדם שולח הרב שלוחיו‬

‫לחתום החביות ןמביאים אותם למקומות הללו מחותם עם כתב מהרב‬

We see that when sugar was imported to Europe it was assumed that flour
was not mixed in at the country of origin because it was more expensive
then sugar. As soon as the ships docked messengers were sent to seal the
containers of sugar to prevent flour which was cheaper in Europe from being
mixed in. Only those sealed containers were used during Pesach. This is in
accordance with the aforementioned Halacha that where there is a profit
motive we always are suspect for adulteration.

ADULTERATION OF COCOA
First we must establish if cocoa is a product subject to adulteration. If it is
sensitive to adulterants and it would be spoiled, or if nothing blends properly
and an adulterant would be easily detected we would not have to be worried
about adulteration. The only resource available to research this issue was
Google Books which can only digitize books which have no copyrights or
expired copyrights. The following link is for the source of the next quote.

http://www.archive.org/stream/reportvolume09healgoog/reportvolume09healgoog_djvu.txt

No food material offers more favorable conditions for

adulteration than cocoa preparations. Both the color and
form in which it is prepared for market, easily conceal the
adulterant.

The adulterants usually added to increase the weight and

bulk are sugar, wheat, and potato starch, rice, arrowroot,
acorn, rye flour, ground peanuts, raw malt, sawdust, spices,
sand, clay, and foreign fat, to make up the normal quantity
of fat, or to give the mass plasticity for molding. The color-
ing substances used are ferric oxide, potassium chromate,
copper sulphate, nickel sulphate, and sometimes finely pow-
dered tin is used to give a luster.

120 years ago it was already established that cocoa was a prime candidate
for adulteration. People have not evolved in the past 120 years to the point
that you can say we can taste, smell, or recognize things people 120 years
ago could not. The exact opposite is true, technology has made major
advances in the past 120 years and things that were not able to be
concealed then could easily be concealed today. So cocoa today remains a
highly adulterated product unless care is taken to prevent adulteration. This
is confirmed in the book “Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage “ by L.
Grivetti and H. Shapiro – 2009, chapter 47: Adulteration.

The second condition which needs to be established is if there is a profit

motive. In the US cocoa is priced at about 3,000 dollars per metric ton while
wheat is priced at about 200 dollars per metric ton. This explains why cocoa
adulteration is a serious problem in the US. The question is what is the
status in China. Without knowledge of the factory location in China it would
not be possible for the author to give a realistic estimate.

Since it has not been positively established that the above 2 conditions have
not been met, we are therefore very concerned by the following statement:

UPDATE 11:30AM EST: YWN has just spoken with Rabbi Levy of the OK, who tells us that in the
past 30 years, he and his Mashgichim have been to countless cocoa factories across the globe –
including Europe, the Far East, Africa, etc etc, and have never ever found any Shalia (question) on
any 100% pure cocoa powder. Additionally, Rabbi Levy consulted with leading experts in the field,
as well as multiple Kashruth organizations, and all agree that there is no issue.

Rabbi Levy also told YWN that he just spoke with Rabbi Gruber, who is in agreement with the OK
that there is no Shaila.

The logic behind the statement is very bizarre to say the least. The fact that
you visit a plant and do not see them mixing flour into the cocoa means
nothing. Adulteration only takes place when you have left the plant and are
not looking, this is why you need a mashgiach. The second part claiming he
consulted with leading experts in the field and other organizations and all
agree there is no issue defies all published literature on this topic for at least
the last 120 years. They should quote the names of the experts and
organizations.

POSSIBLE ‫התירים‬
1> ‫ – תגר או אומן‬Dealer or Professional

The ‫ ש"ע‬in ‫ סימן קי"ד סעיף ה‬says that we are not worried about
adulteration if the product is purchased from a dealer because the fear of
losing his business outweighs the greed for an additional profit and he
would not adulterate. The ‫ דרכי תשובה‬quotes an ‫ערוך השולחן‬

‫דאין לומר כלל בזה אלא הכל לפי המקום ולפי הזמן דהא ידוע שיש אומנים‬

‫שעושין תערובות ולא קפדי‬

The Chinese society definitely falls into the category of dealers and
professionals who are ‫ לא קפדי‬therefore this ‫ התיר‬does not apply.

2> Adulteration with other products.

It is possible that they adulterate the cocoa with arrowroot or soy powder
which may be cheaper. The ‫ באר היטב‬in ‫ א"ח סימן תס"ז סעיף י"ד‬when
discussing the adulteration of sugar says

‫ כי דבר זה‬,‫ומכל מקום קודם שיורה המורה צריך חקירת חכם איך ומה נעשה‬

.‫ ולכתחלה נוהגין להחמיר בכל ענין‬.‫נשתנה לפי המקום ולפי הזמן‬

To establish this ‫ התיר‬research would have to be done by qualified

professionals in the field of food adulteration. The Shufra company and
their Mashgichim have proven themselves incapable of this since they are
under the misconception that adulteration does not happen to cocoa.

3> LAB TESTS

These tests would have to be done to all the lots. So if someone found a
box of cocoa and sent it to the lab it would not be sufficient unless we
knew that all the cocoa was manufactured in the same lot. The different
types of lab tests and their halachic status is not in the scope of this
essay since they weren’t done and it is now a mute issue.
‫חוטא נשכר‬
The company after being made aware of this kashrus issue could have
sold the cocoa at some sort of discount to a non kosher company or could
have held on to it and used it after Pesach. The excessive greed
demonstrated by this company thru its packaging and distributing this
product as kosher lepesach is inexcusable. For the consumer to allow
them to walk away unscathed would show a complete lack of dedication
to kashrus on behalf of the consumer. We are therefore proposing the
following response.

1> FOR YOURSELF

Stop eating Shufra products. Speak to your wife and children and
try to enforce the same standards on them. If you are making a
simcha tell the caterer not to serve Shufra products. If you can
have this written in the contract it would be an additional
accomplishment
2> IN THE BAIS MEDRASH/SHTEEBLE
Speak to the candyman, impress the importance of not giving
Shufra candies to your children. Speak to the Rav & Gabai try to
have Shufra products banned from all simchas and kiddushim
3> AT A CHASUNA OR SIMILAR EVENT
Go to the kitchen and speak to the mashgiach. Ask if any Shufra
products are being used. If they are, do not eat from any dish made
using them. Inform the people at your table why you aren’t eating
these items and try and convince them to also refrain.
4> YESHIVOS/CAMPS
Speak to you children’s Rebbeim, Teachers, Counselors and ask
them to please make sure Shufra products are not served to your
sons or daughters.
5> SPEAK TO YOUR FRIENDS
If you have any friends making a simcha ask them to require the
caterer not to use Shufra products.
6> DON’T DO NOTHING
If you don’t fight back the standards for Kashrus will continue to get
lower and lower.