[Avodah] Pesach - Lecithin does not render chocolate non-KLP for Ashkenasim

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

R' Zev Sero wrote:

<<<   If it's not known, how do you know it's even kosher?  If it's because
it has a hechsher for the whole year, why doesn't the machshir say whether
it's also good for Pesach.  Still, if you don't know you can probably rely
on the majority of milk being OK, and  buy it before Pesach just in case
there is something in it, so it should be batel. Is the same thing true of
chocolate?  Is the majority of chocolate chamets-free?>>>

You seem to be unaware of the realities of cholov hacompanies in the USA
prior to a couple of decades ago. One would enter a grocery or supermarket,
 and the milk had no Jewish supervision at all. The container attested to
the Vitamin D that was added to it, and I think another vitamin too.

Anyone who wasn't makpid on Jewish hashgacha, that's what they drank. As a
know-nothing rookie baal tshuva in New Jersey in the early '70s, I was
worried about the vitamins, so I mailed a label from the local milk to the
OU, asking them about it (for year-round, not specifically Pesach) and they
replied in writing that none of the ingredients were problematic.

I remember that in some later years, there was hashgacha on the milk for
Pesach. At the time, we used to get our milk from a mostly-dairy-items
convenience store called Garden State Farms. For Pesach, there was a piece
of paper, about 3 by 5 inches I suppose, with a hole in the middle and
placed on the neck of each bottle. It said "Kosher for Passover", with the
name and city of some rabbi who I did not know.

One story I remember happened when Erev Pesach was on Shabbos, so it must
have been 1974 or 77. A few days before Pesach and there was still no
Pesach label on the milk in the store. Finally, Friday afternoon, eager to
get milk for yom tov, my mother asked one of the employees, "When are you
getting the Passover milk?" His answer was something like, "The rabbi
cleaned everything last week, but we're not putting the labels on until
tomorrow. "

I was fortunate to have such milk available. Others did not, and were
routinely told simply to buy their milk before Pesach. During Pesach 1973,
I was part of the kitchen staff at the OU-supervised Monsey Park Hotel. As
Pesach began, one of the refrigerators was filled with enough milk to last
to the end of yom tov. Unfortunately, by the last days of chol hamoed it
didn't taste so good any more. I know they tried to get more milk for the
last days of yom tov, but I don't remember what actually happened.

Today, the OU writes this at
https://oukosher.org/passover/guidelines/food-items/milk/
<<< Milk contains added vitamins that contain a slight chametz risk.
Therefore it is best to purchase milk made with special Passover
supervision. See the OU Passover guide or check the OU Passover product
search for a complete list. If one cannot obtain Passover certified milk,
regular milk should be bought before Passover at which time chametz can be
nullified (batel). >>>

Another example, Rav Eider writes the following on page 47: "Vitamin D
which is added to some milk can be made form grain. Although the percentage
is minute, if it was added on Pesach it MAY be prohibited [usually it is
nifsal me'achilas kelev]. In addition, milk may be processed in the same
pasteurizer used for chometz (e.g. chocolate milk). Therefore, milk
procesed during Pesach requires proper supervision."

SO......

Suppose I have an UNsupervised product, and the manufacturer claim it is
made of nothing  but cocoa beans and sugar. Or suppose that it even has
lecithin, but I'm Sefardi. Why would it be assur on Pesach?

Akiva Miller
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