Kedem continues to bottle grape juice under its own name as well as under the Savion, Gefen and Lipschutz labels. All these items have always been and will continue to be Mevushal. Kedem has one not Mevushal grape juice. This is bottled in 1.5 liter glass bottles and clearly labeled Non-Mevushal. Manischewitz will once again have an OU-P grape juice under its own label. This grape juice is made from concentrate. Kedem will offer a variety of OU-P Sparkling Grape Juices. These grape juices are Mevushal. Kedem will also produce a variety of OU-P cooking wines. Kedem has introduced Pomegranate and Sparkling Pomogrape Juices with the OU-P certification as new items this year. Two new alcoholic OU-P items will be available. Jelinek will have OU-P pear brandy in addition to traditional slivovitz and Distillerie will have OU-P gin.

The OU has certified the Manischewitz matzah bakery in the United States for the past years. For a long time this was the only OU matzah bakery in the world. It continues to be the only one in the United States. Other OU-P brands such as Horowitz Margareten and Goodman’s are all baked at Manischewitz. The bakery has relocated and is fully functioning this year. All regular Manischewitz items will again be available. The OU has also agreed to place the OU-P on Aviv, Osem, Yehuda and Rishon matzah products coming from Israel. The items are supervised by local Rabbanim and are satisfactorily made with OU Pesach guidelines. They are certified by the OU when the OU-P appears on them. In addition, we have this year certified Yanovsky matzah baked in Argentina. This matzah is widely distributed in Latin America. This company manufactures various types of matzah. All matzah is always an eighteen minute product. Rabbi Feigelstock of Buenos Aires serves as the OU rav hamachshir at this factory.

Manischewitz has whole wheat matzah meal and whole wheat matzah farfel. These items are made from Manischewitz OU-P whole wheat matzah. Manischewitz will again have traditional egg matzah. This product is Matzah Ashirah and is permitted for Sefardim or Ashkenazim who cannot eat regular matzah. It is so marked on the box. Manischewitz produces Passover Tams which are small egg matzah crackers coated with different flavorings. They are marked as Matzah Ashirah on the box. Manischewitz will continue to sell OU-P machine shmurah matzah under both the Manischewitz and Goodman’s labels. In addition, OU-P hand shmurah matzah will be available from Kfar Chabad and Rokeach. Kedem will be selling, as they did last year, Savion matzah sticks. This is matzah baked in stick form under the Savion label. Manischewitz makes a product known as matzah crackers. Both of these are ordinary matzah products and not matzah ashirah. The various Israeli OU matzah companies will all be selling machine shmurah matzah as well. In addition the OU-P symbol will appear on Geula and Haddar matzah and matzah products.

Coca Cola will again be available with an OU-P for Pesach. Aside from the New York metropolitan area, Coke will be available in Boston, Baltimore-Washington, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. This year, in New York, Coca Cola items will be made with an OU-P in 2 liter bottles. All these items, of course, require the P symbol. Most of the bottling plants servicing these markets will designate the Passover Coke items with a distinctive yellow cap in addition to the P symbol on the cap or shoulder of the bottle.

All the Haddar Passover items will now be available with the OU-P symbol. The traditional OU-P candy brands such as Oneg, Alprose, Elite and Empress will again be available. This year the Barton brand will be back again with the OU-P. A full line of Barricini candy items will be available with the OU-P symbol. Elyon, Manischewitz, Gefen and Granny’s will continue to have OU-P marshmallows. Manischewitz will have a number of new items including chocolate covered cherries, marshmallows and biscotti. Shkedia will also be selling chocolate covered items such as nuts and citrus peel.

This year the OU-P will appear on various Cholov Yisroel dairy products. Norman’s has introduced the OU-P Machmirim brand of yogurt. In addition there will be OU-P Cholov Yisroel goat cheese and sheep cheese from Barkanit and mozzarella, provolone and pecorino cheese from Yotvata. Haddar will be selling OU-P Cholov Yisroel milk powder. Cabot Creamery will be introducing OU-P cheddar cheese. This item is not Cholov Yisroel.

There will be two OU-P brands of packaged cakes available this year. These will be Reisman and Lily’s Bakeshop. These lines will be more extensive than last year. Both are baked in a special Passover bakery and do not contain matzah meal. In addition the Willmark line of industrial bakery products has been purchased by VIP and many of these items are appearing with the OU-P label this year. Gedilla and Gefen cookies will be available with OU-P. Bernies Foods will have Frankels blintzes, waffles and pizza as well as LeTova Kichel and bread sticks. These are all not made with matzah meal. Dayenu pizza, rolls and pierogies are made with matzah meal. Gefen will have a full line of cake mixes and hot cereal items. Those contain no matzah meal.

Manischewitz has kept the Season name on OU-P fish items which include tuna, sardines, salmon and anchovies. Season has introduced a number of new Moroccan sardine items in various sauces for Pesach. All of these items are made with Mashgiach Temidi and bishul yisrael. In addition, the Season label will continue to appear on OU-P bamboo shoots and water chestnuts as well as some sauces and oil. Tuna fish is available with an OU-P from Season, Gefen and Mishpacha. In addition Shoprite OU-P tuna fish in water will be available. Season and Gefen will have OU-P salmon in both regular and no salt versions. All these items are made with Mashgiach Temidi and Bishul Yisrael. Dr. Praeger’s continues to produce breaded fish fillets and fish sticks with an OU-P. These products contain no matzah meal. In addition, Ratner’s will have a line of OU-P pancakes and blintzes. These do contain matzah meal.

The OU position remains that extra virgin olive oil can be used without special supervision for Pesach. In addition, Bartenura, Carmel, Gefen and Mishpacha olive oil will be available with an OU-P label. Mother’s olive oil pan coating spray, Mishpacha olive oil spray and Manischewitz buttery safflower cooking spray, olive oil spray and olive oil garlic cooking sprays will also be available. Prepared olives with an OU-P will be available from Gefen, Osem, Kvuzat Yavne, Gilboa and Mishpacha. Bartenura will be introducing an OU-P grapeseed oil this year.

Manischewitz, Mishapacha, Rokeach and Savion will continue to make OU-P sauces. These include different types of tomato sauce, dressings and marinades. Savion will have an OU-P line of sauces known as Fireman’s Frenzy. These include spicy marinades, salsa and spicy ketchup. In addition, VIP and Kojel wil have OU-P ready to eat soup in a bowl items.

The OU position remains that regular tea bags, which are not flavored or decaffeinated, are acceptable for Pesach without special supervision. In addition we have clarified once again this year that all Lipton decaffeinated tea bags are acceptable without special supervision. This is not true of other decaffeinated tea bags. Shoprite also has specially marked OU-P plain tea bags on the market. In addition Swee-Touch-Nee and Wissotsky will continue to have Pesach herbal teas. Nestea instant unflavored tea powder and instant unflavored decaffeinated tea powder are acceptable for Pesach without special supervision. Our position in former years in regard to coffee had been similar to tea. We maintained that all regular coffee, that is unflavored and not decaffeinated, is acceptable for Pesach without supervision. This is no longer true. Some coffee companies add maltodextrin, which is either chametz or kitniyos, to instant coffee. As a result this coffee is not kosher for Passover. Only coffee bearing an OU-P symbol or brands listed in the gray area of the Passover Directory should be used. Both Folger’s and Taster’s Choice instant coffee remain acceptable. Other brands should be checked in the Directory. Ground coffee remains acceptable from any source as long as it is unflavored and not decaffeinated.

This year a number of supermarket labels will have OU-P flavored seltzers for Pesach. These include America’s Choice, Shoprite and Price Chopper.

Two new OU-P labels available this year are Guss OU-P pickles and Sonny & Joe’s line of salads, dips and pickles. In addition Kirkland OU-P Apple Juice will be available for the first time. Two other new products are Gefen almond butter and Haddar almond butter and cashew butter. In addition Health Garden OU-P xylitol will be available. This is a non-sugar based sweetener. Another new item is Jane’s Crazy Mixed-Up salt which is an OU-P salt and seasoning mixture.

It remains the position of the OU Poskim that aluminum pans do not require Passover supervision. Pro Pak will be producing a line of OU-P parchment paper and Plasti Made food storage bags.