Kashrus experts share their tips for smooth shopping to keep nerves at bay and mishaps to a minimum

IS there any time of year that induces more nerves — and allows less room for error — than the week leading up to the majestic holiday of Pesach? After the harried frenzy of cleaning, at long last, there is the grocery shopping — pushing your cart through the aisles, fighting to stay awake long enough to check the items off your list. Now, what could go wrong? Kashrus experts share their tips for smooth shopping to keep nerves at bay and mishaps to a minimum.

Spot the Symbol

If you’re vigilant about checking product labels the rest of the year, say our experts, the time before Pesach is when you should be extra vigilant.

Being extra vigilant means checking every part of every label, and for products you’re buying in bulk, checking the label on each and every item. Always be on guard; just because you found it in the kosher l’Pesach aisle, or even in an exclusively KLP store, that alone does not confer a Pesach hechsher.

“Every single year, without fail, we find mix-ups,” says Rabbi Fishbane. “For example, in a case of kosher l’Pesach ketchup, we find one or two bottles that are not kosher l’Pesach.”

Also, many companies don’t invest in different designs for Pesach product labels, so aside from the special P near the kosher symbol, a kosher l’Pesach item will look very similar to a year-round item. So if you’re buying four packages, three might be fine, and the fourth might have chometz.

And companies occasionally print erroneous labels.

“Every label on the product must be read,” advises Rabbi Zvi Holland. “Just last week, some shoppers found gefilte fish that said chometz on the front and kosher l’Pesach on the back. It was purely an issue of human error, but the only way to avoid this is to read every label on every product you purchase.”

Sometimes mix-ups happen at the store. A store employee mistakenly stocks a year-round item on the Pesach shelf, or a shopper picks up a bottle of ketchup in the condiments section and later decides he doesn’t want it, unknowingly putting it down in the Pesachdig section.

Rabbi Elefant remembers a woman who purchased 24 rolls of gefilte fish from the Pesach section of the grocery store. She cooked them in her Pesachdig keilim before realizing they were chometz gamur. “Don’t assume anything!” he says.

Obviously, you can’t control other people’s human error, but you can control what you place in your pantry at home.

“Put a system into place,” Rabbi Fishbane urges. “Before placing any item on a shelf in your Pesach cabinet, have someone read the label. You’ll save yourself so much agmas nefesh.”