Kashrus Alert: Update: PINEAPPLE infested beyond the brown parts

Update: Kashrus Alert:

PINEAPPLE (Costa-Rica) was found to be infested with mealy bugs 

beyond the brown parts! 

Therefore at this time Pineapple should not be used including canned pineapple.

                                 Older alert on pineapple

Kashrus alert: Honeydew honey is not kosher- Some honey processors produce both in the same facility, and it is heated. Beware when buying honey, etc in health food stores.

Honeydew Honey- is not permitted, as it's an extraction from other insects, it does not become permitted just because the bee collected it.

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"Honeydew" is a classification of honey that refers to honey produced by honeybees collecting nectar that is exuded from another insect such as an aphid or scale insect. It is quite common in a number of countries and the best known is honeydew from the Black Forest in Germany. World wide honeydew can be referred to variously as "forest honey", "Pine honey", "Fir honey" etc. and may sometimes be referred to by the specific species of tree producing the honeydew. 

“Nothing more completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity, than straightforward and simple integrity in another.”

Very powerful video by Rav Yitzchok Sorotzkin, Shlita

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6WgMPCtm1Y

olive oil shortage= adulteration fraud big time

Shortage of Olive Oil Predicted

This year's harvest appears to be twenty percent lower than last year

October 20, 2014

Harvest reports from the major olive growing areas around the world indicate a significantly smaller crop in 2014, and combined with the steady growth in demand for Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the news has experts expressing concern about a shortage of top quality olive oil. This year's harvest of 2.56 million tons appears to be about twenty percent lower than last year's, and more important, falls well below the 3 million tons consumed last year. 

 "As with all agricultural products, olives and olive oil are subject to the whims and vagaries of nature," says Ann Sievers of Il Fiorello Olive Oil Company, who makes olive oil for some of the top names in the Napa Valley. "Here in Northern California, there are many concerns not only about the size of the crop but also the constant issue of the olive fly. It looks like our harvest will be just a bit below last year."