K A S H R U T . C O M_©

May 15, 2025 from Matzav.com:

"Osem, the Israeli branch of Nestle, has announced another round of price increases, affecting a wide range of household staples such as baby formula, instant meals, coffee, and more—with some items rising by as much as 9%.

"In a statement released Thursday, Osem attributed the hike—averaging 2.2% across its product line—to mounting “production costs,” without offering specifics.

"Despite the stated average, reporting by N12 reveals that actual price jumps will be far more noticeable for consumers, with critical food and baby items seeing increases as high as 9%.

"According to the breakdown provided, snack prices will go up by 5%, powdered soup and croutons will also see a 5% bump, hot meals will become 4–6% more expensive, baby formula is set to climb by 7%, and coffee will take the biggest hit with a 9% surge.

"This marks the company’s second price hike since the beginning of 2025 and the third in less than a year. The previous raise, in January 2025, also averaged 2.2%, yet specific items like chocolate, coffee, baked goods, condiments, and Sabra-branded products saw sharper increases ranging from 4% to 9%.

"A similar move occurred in May 2024, when Osem adjusted prices on a slew of items—such as baked snacks, drinks, pre-made dishes, and ptitim—raising them by anywhere from 2% to 7%."

May 15, 2025 from CPSC :

Boyro Baby Convertible High Chairs have been recalled because the high chairs pose a deadly fall hazard to babies because the restraint system is not attached to the product and the locks or latches can fail. In addition, the high chairs pose an entrapment hazard because the opening between the seat and tray is large enough that a child can become entrappe

Consumer Contact: Boyro Baby by email at boyrobaby@outlook.com, or online at www.boyrobaby.com/testimonial or www.boyrobaby.com and click on “Safety Recalls” for more information.

Description: This recall involves Boyro Baby-branded high chairs. The 4-in-1 high chairs were sold in green, gray and pink and have a removable seat cushion, a detachable tray, a footrest and storage space underneath the seat. They convert from a high chair into a low chair, rocking chair and slide.

Remedy: Consumers should stop using and disassemble the recalled high chairs immediately and contact Boyro Baby for instructions on receiving a full refund. The instructions will include instructions on cutting the restraint system and seat cushions, and emailing photos of the disassembled and destroyed pieces of the high chair to boyrobaby@outlook.com. Once the photos have been received, Boyro Baby will issue a refund.

Sold Exclusively Online: Amazon.com and from October 2023 through November 2024 for between $70 and $90.

Cassava Flour, Chips, Bread, and More Contain High Levels of Lead

May 8, 2025 from Consumer Reports:

"Cassava has become a popular gluten-free alternative, but CR’s tests of 27 products found that more than two-thirds of them contain more lead in a single serving than our experts say you should have in a day

"Consumer Reports’ latest tests of 27 products found that for over two-thirds of them, a single serving exceeded the level of lead Consumer Reports’ food safety experts use as a threshold for an acceptable daily intake—some by more than 2,000 percent. CR has tested several categories of foods and spices for heavy metals. With the exception of some spices (for example, certain brands of basil, cinnamon, ginger, thyme, and turmeric), 'we’ve never seen lead levels as high as those we found in some of these cassava foods,' says James E. Rogers, PhD, director of product and food safety research and testing at Consumer Reports.

"Root vegetables—including cassava, carrots, beets, and sweet potatoes—grow in the ground and are known to take up some lead along with other heavy metals and contaminants. There’s nothing about the cassava plant that should make it more likely than other root vegetables to absorb lead, according to Ganga Hettiarachchi, PhD, a professor of soil and environmental chemistry who studies trace metal and nutrient chemistry at Kansas State University in Manhattan. But it is possible that some cassava could be grown in highly polluted areas, or handled or processed in ways that introduce lead, she says.

"Several studies have found that cassava can be a significant dietary source of lead exposure in people who eat it frequently. For example, in a 2015 study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, researchers found that cassava grown in one region of Ghana was high enough in lead to raise the risk of health problems among people who ate it regularly.

"had between 200 and just over 600 percent of that level per serving. These should be limited, but they’re okay to eat occasionally. The flour with the lowest lead levels in our tests is Tonomi Cassava Flour; one serving supplies 215 percent of CR’s level of concern. Our experts say it’s okay to have up to three servings of it per week.

"Of course, no one eats flour (cassava or otherwise) straight. Still, when we reviewed several recipes for baked goods made with cassava flour, we saw that consuming that ¼ cup in one sitting isn’t difficult. For example, recipes that yield 12 muffins call for 1½ to 1⅔ cups of cassava flour. That means that 2 muffins would supply about ¼ cup.

"Cassava chips also had high lead levels in our tests. Of the eight products we looked at, two are on our avoid list, and one had lead levels high enough that our experts advise eating no more than one serving per week. The lead levels in an ounce of these three products ranged from about 600 to 1,700 percent of CR’s level of concern. The chips with the lowest lead levels were Goya Yuca Cassava Chips. An ounce supplied 10 percent of CR’s level of concern for lead (see chart here.

"Consumer Reports assumes one serving a day of the product in its risk assessment calculations."

May 9, 2025 from the Israel National News:

"In a dramatic and unsettling revelation, Hussein Jaber of Abu Ghosh, the man entrusted with purchasing Israel’s leavened food ahead of Passover, has disclosed that representatives from Qatar, Dubai, and Kuwait made covert offers to buy the entire stockpile he legally acquired from the State of Israel. The offers, first reported by Matzav Haruach, were not business ventures but what Jaber calls an attempt to 'cause severe economic damage' to the country.

"'These were not offers based on need or trade,' Jaber claimed. 'They were designed to invalidate the religious legality of the sale and to eliminate vast inventories of leavened food, everything from warehouses and food plants to dairies and even industrial machinery.'

"The timing and nature of the proposals suggest a calculated effort to exploit a critical religious-economic tradition in Israel. Under Jewish law, leavened food must be removed or sold to a non-Jew before Passover. Any leavened food owned by Jews during Passover becomes forbidden even after the holiday ends.

"To avoid massive economic waste, businesses and institutions sell their leavened food in a legal transaction under Jewish law. For years, Jaber has served as the state's non-Jewish buyer in this arrangement, a trusted, if symbolic, role now revealed to carry geopolitical weight.

"Jaber noted that this is not the first time he has faced such pressure. 'In the past, even Saudi Arabia approached me with a similar offer,' he said, recalling that they, too, had no real use for the goods. 'Saudi Arabia didn’t need Israeli biscuits,' he remarked wryly, “they just wanted to cause damage.”

March 21, 2025 from Agfunder News:

"The race is on to find more sustainable, functional, or healthy alternatives to animal and tropical fats (coconut, palm, cocoa). But does the next generation of “designer fats” fit the bill?

"While several startups in the novel fats space are coaxing microbes or animal cells to produce some of these more saturated fats, San Jose, Calif.-based Savor is deploying a thermochemical approach which it claims is more scalable, whereby it takes a carbon source and a hydrogen source, heats them up and oxidizes them to create fatty acids.

"The company launched its first product from its pilot facility in Illinois: animal-and-plant-free butter.

"Labeling is still to be determined for the butter alternative, which has self-GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status in the US, and is targeting baking, confectionery and dairy applications. A cocoa butter equivalent will follow soon.

"To date, Savor has developed multiple prototypes that replicate the functional properties of milkfat, cocoa butter, lard, beef tallow and liquid vegetable oils

"The 25,000-square-foot pilot production facility in Batavia, Illinois, has the initial capacity to produce metric tons of fat, said the firm, which has 10 pending and issued patents covering its process 'from feedstock to final products as well as several families of product formulations.'"