Israel – As the festival of Chanucah approaches, Israelis are being warned to watch out for a particular seasonal hazard: fake olive oil.
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Leading kashrut expert Rabbi Yosef Zaritsky told shoppers on the Charedi website Bchadrei Charedim that those buying oil for Chanucah, which starts on Friday night, should “be on guard for counterfeit oil”.
Officials from the Chief Rabbinate are also engaged in a campaign against brands that emerge during the holiday season selling cheap olive oil that is of questionable content.
“Fraudulent kosher seals and fraudulent olive oil often go together,” says Rabbi Rafi Yochai, the chief kashrut enforcer for the Chief Rabbinate.
“Oil fraud has been carried out on a vast scale in the past but we are fighting the phenomenon and raising public awareness of it.”
Rabbi Zaritsky said that the market has been infiltrated by merchants engaging in “foilishtik”, or foolishness, by mixing in flavouring and smell additives. In some cases they mix soya oil with the olive oil.
He said there were also cases of merchants adding colouring to soya oil to make it look like olive oil.
“Good olive oil is a function of price,” he says. “It should cost at least NIS 35-40 [£5.50-6.50] a litre, and if not, it is not olive oil.”
He recommends spreading oil on one’s hand to test whether it is pure olive oil.
“If after five minutes, the smell remains, then it isn’t olive oil. The smell of olive oil dissipates.”
Store owners selling oil at more expensive stores at Jerusalem’s Machaneh Yehudah market on Wednesday tended to enthusiastically agree with Rabbi Zaritsky’s warning.
But a staffer at the Rosemarin store, whose oils included a bottle for just NIS 20, called it “not very precise”.
Another store featured a bottle of olive oil at only NIS 17.50. It had a picture on the label of the arch of Titus, an ancient oil lamp and olive branches with black olives.
Only on close inspection does it become clear the bottle contains not only olive oil but also vegetable oil. There was no brand name but the manufacturer was listed, again in small letters, as System Investments.
But maybe it is the purity of one’s intention and not the oil that matters, after all.
At an Ethiopian spice shop in Machaneh Yehudah, across from a fish store displaying pink salmon steaks, Fasika Kasa, who immigrated from Gondar in 1991, agreed that “good oil has to cost at least NIS 35”.
What if someone cannot afford it?
“Then they should light candles,” at NIS 4 a box.
“God knows from your heart what you can afford,” she said. “If you don’t have the money, you don’t have it. “The main thing is not to forget the holiday and to celebrate with whatever means you have.”
Smell test is a great idea, thanks rabbi
Also we have to watch out for fake Rabbis
Again, since we are NOT eating the oil, the hashgacha would appear to be less important. Yes, we should strive to find pure olive oil with no additives but if chas v’shalom some kosher vegetable oil was mixed in, its not the end of the world and the ebeshter will not be writing your name down for next yom kippur.
This article shteched my heart. Even when it comes to mitzvos we have to ganveh?! How can we live when we can’t trust our fellow jew to be selling us real olive oil?!! Does anyone know names of good brands and if the bad ones made it to the USA? I now have to worry that my neros won’t be mehudor! Sick! I hope the reshaim who cause people to be nichshol die a missah meshuna!
Until two years ago we bought the “kosher mehadrin” olive oil and could not figure out why it would only burn 2/3 of the way down. On the 6th night, we bought Costco olive oil with a lowly “OU” hechsher and it burned all the way down. You can draw your own conclusions.
Ah Freilichen Chanukah!
buying heimeshe brands is more expensive (duh) and carries the same risk that it’s counterfeit olive oil (unfortunately) as the goyish brands.
i just buy the goyish brand (with a hechsher of course) and save a good 3 dollars.
and i guarantee you that both the heimeshe brands and goyish brands import their olive oil from china.
“from italy” yea right like im the queen of england
here to in USA
YOU CAN FIND ALOT OF OIL
being sold as olive oil
but its not
so get with good hechsher
don’t be fooled
Before Rosh Hashanah they were warning about “fake honey”
sounds like an episode of agent emes!! I can’t believe this!
Some nut oils are sold as olive oil. One has to be aware. That said I am buying my oil in shoprite for chanukah. I’m gonna get one of those large metal containers.
Why buy with a hashgacha from some guy pouring the oil into little bottles and charging an inflated price?
according to many poskim any oil is better than candles. also pomance olive oil is not “zach”
I have a container that says “Olive Pomace Oil”
Ingredients:
Refined Olive – Pomace Oil, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
It has a Star K Hechher and in Hebrew “לחנוכה ולכל השנה”.
I’m just concerned about the “Pomace” part, I don’t know what that means. Any Ideas?
As long as you do not eat with the Oil, any olive oil, even without a hashgacah, is good for Chanukah candles.
What is wrong with vegetable oil?
if you are just using it for the menorah why does it need a hashgacha just by a well known brand of olive oil
Why does the burden to watch EVERYTHING we buy with heckshers fall upon the consumer. Where are the authorities/Rabbonim/agencies who are supposed to oversee the production/import/distributors of these items. And .. when a item is found not to be kosher, what happens to those people who produce those items/products ? They say sorry and next week produce something else. Why don’t we know who they are and what network they use for distribution, etc… I’m sure if their names got published here, Israel or around the world they would never do it again.
There were halachic discussions of the purity of olive oil back in the 1840’s. Google “Lard Oil testing for kashrut” for a very interesting article.
Ahhh! what would a yom tov be without a new chumrah?
oil can be from advar isur which you can’t use for a mitzva
so get with a good hechsher
Nar Mitzvoh oil with skvere hechsher is good
is the best
Two years ago I bought ready made lights with olive oil with a hashgacha.
turned out the oil was ordinary vegetable oil.
Buyer beware here in the states also.
FYI, a big oil company who’s products were sold in the big national supermarkets was caught a few years ago of faking the consumers by selling “Spanish or Italian” olive oil, while it was found to be 90 percent soya/veg. oil.
With a reliable hashgocha you’re always more on the safe side.