SHEESH! MORE ON COTTONSEED OIL

Turns out that the price of cottonseed oil has gone sky high (why not? everything else has, too). Why? There is a shortage of cottonseed oil because farmers are not planting cotton. Corn (for ethanol) brings a much higher price.

Yet, try to find any Passover product with oil in it that is not cottonseed oil. Cottonseed oil is about the worst kind of oil, health wise. It is way up there with palm oil in the unhealthy department. On top of that, because cotton is not a food crop, it is still sprayed with DDT, some of which may find its way into your oil.

So here’s the question: Why is it that in spite of a very clear stance on the part of halachic (legal) literature, we do not use permitted oils on Passover? Why did all the kosher agencies force us to use cottonseed because they no longer certify corn oil, cannola oil, rapeseed oil, soy oil and peanut oil? All would be acceptable halachically. So, again, we ask: Why are we forced to use an oil that is not healthy?

Passover is so expensive as it is. Why must we pay more for a product we should not be using in the first place?

Why have we had this foolish chumra placed upon us? Not only that, but the groups who have decided to stop the use of permitted oils had to go outside of normal halachic (Jewish legal) standards to do so. It’s time they stopped doing this to us.