Passover 2015 Recap

Kashrut.com had a banner season for Passover 2015.

Kashrut.com is a kosher-food-information website, established in May 1996. Since then, Kashrut.com has been providing information, alerts, and recipes, and we also serve as a clearinghouse for all of the Passover information on the web.

For Passover 2015 Season: March 7, 2015 to April 16, 2014, the site had over 350,412 page downloads to 113,093 distinct hosts. The Passover index page itself had almost 44,000 visitors. The website transferred 426.45 gigabytes of information.

We have found two interesting things this Passover:

Inquiries from people looking for healthy ingredients. These ingredients are fairly simple, but not available with Passover certification.
The information that was online from the kosher-certifying agencies consisted of large documents, which were very difficult for users to navigate and find the information that they needed. A positive development: The Chicago Rabbinical Council Askcrc.org website is a useful resource for kashrus and Passover kashrus questions.
People were looking for alcholic beverages that were usable for Passover

Healthy Ingredients: People are looking for healthy ingredients that are usable for Passover.

Coconut Oil: People are on the lookout for healthier oils. Coconut oil is a solid at room temperature and so is a substitute for shortening or margarine in baking. The OU said that one brand was usable for Passover. Since coconut oil has unique properties such as being a solid at room temperature and melting around 76 ° F and smells stongly of coconut.
Coconut Milk: The second most popular question was about coconut milk. I do not know of any coconut milks that were certified for Passover.
Coconut sugar: people were looking for information on which to buy.
Non-nutrative sweeteners such as Stevia and xylitol: People are looking for healthier non-nutrative sweeteners particularly stevia and xylitol. There was one xylitol for Passover. I do not know of any consumer stevia products for Passoer.
A lot of questions that we got were about healthy products that could conceivably be usable for Passover, but were not certified. Some of the products that people were looking for were kosher-for-Passover agave nectar, non-nutritive sweeteners, and coconut milk.

In most cases, I found that the kashrus agencies do not say that a product is usable for Passover unless it is certified as such. The OU has had no new products listed on the gray pages (products usable for Passover without Passover certification) in many years. However, they have looked at the usability of soy, rice milks and baby formula for Passover, because of great demand and listed this elsewhere on their Passover website. Both the manufacturers and the kashrus agencies are failing to address the healthy-food-for-Passover market, which is surprising, since many of these manufacturers are already careful with their processing or are aiming for the "free-from" allergen market, making them ideal for the gluten-free (non-gebruckts), soy-free and corn-free market of Pesach.

Unwieldy Lists: A problem that got worse in 2014 was an overdose of information. The kashrus agencies have produced large documents listing their Passover information, everything they think one would need to do Passover. These documents are hard to download and difficult to read on many electronic devices. Many of the documents were also set up in a format in which it was difficult to search for information, and thus, resulted in less information getting through to the consumer. From the questions that I got, I could tell that people were not reading them, or were unable to find the information that they needed and so called or emailed questions.

Passover is the most important time for the kosher-food industry and the kashrus agencies. From Koshertoday: "As many as 80% of American Jews participate in at least one Seder, according to Jewish population studies, contributing to a dynamic Passover market, which represents nearly 40% of year-round kosher food sales. Retailers in Brooklyn, Monsey and Lakewood said that a growing community was simply buying more, an indication that demographics are playing a major role in the soaring kosher food market."
There is a lot that has been done, but a lot more can be done to ensure a supply of healthy foods that are available for use on this holiday.

K A S H R U T . C O M_©

The Premier Kosher Information Source on the Internet

Passover 2015 Recap

K A S H R U T . C O M©

The Premier Kosher Information Source on the Internet

Passover 2015 Recap

K A S H R U T . C O M_©