{"id":5587,"date":"2011-03-04T08:08:47","date_gmt":"2011-03-04T06:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=5587"},"modified":"2021-03-21T10:29:40","modified_gmt":"2021-03-21T08:29:40","slug":"04-08-08","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/","title":{"rendered":"08.\u00a0Citric Acid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Citric acid is used to flavor juices, jams, candies, and various food items. In the past it was extracted from lemons and other fruit, but nowadays it is produced commercially from wheat flour.<\/p>\n<p>Although during the production process the flour is initially mixed with water and may become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>, at a later stage it loses its taste and appearance, is rendered unfit for a dog\u2019s consumption, and thus loses its status as <strong>\u1e25ametz.<\/strong> Some <strong>poskim <\/strong>therefore permit eating products containing citric acid on Pesa\u1e25 (<strong>Ye\u1e25aveh Da\u2019at<\/strong> 2:62).<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, many <strong>poskim<\/strong> are stringent in this case. In their opinion, <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong> only loses its status if it becomes unfit for a dog\u2019s consumption due to spoilage. If it is intentionally rendered inedible so that it may be used to flavor foods, it is not nullified and is considered <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong> for all purposes (<strong>Min\u1e25at Yitz\u1e25ak<\/strong> 7:27; <strong>Or Le-Tziyon<\/strong> 1:34; <strong>Shevet Ha-Levi<\/strong> 4:47).<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>halakha <\/strong>follows the lenient view, and in accordance with the words of R. She\u2019ar Yashuv Cohen, of blessed memory, the municipal rabbi of Haifa, who investigated and found that there is no concern that citric acid is <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>. First, the flour that starts the process does not become <strong>\u1e25ametz <\/strong>since it sits in water for only six minutes \u2013 not enough time to become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>. Second, the starch is then extracted from the mixture, and starch alone cannot become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>. Third, citric acid is not produced from the wheat starch itself, but from molds that feed off a substance whose ingredients include a material extracted from the unleavened starch.<sup><a href='#_te01ftn8_10' id='_te01ftnref8_10' class='aup1'>[10]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<div>\n<hr size=\"1\" \/>\n<div>\n<a href='#_te01ftnref8_10' id='_te01ftn8_10'>[10]<\/a>. This debate is very extensive, and the key questions are: Is something that was <strong>batel be-shishim <\/strong>before Pesa\u1e25 <strong>\u1e25ozer ve-ne\u2019or<\/strong> once Pesa\u1e25 begins? Even if not, would a stabilizing agent (\u201c<strong>davar ha-ma\u2019amid<\/strong>\u201d) be any different? And what if it is not the sole agent? The Badatz and many other kosher-certification agencies are very strict about citric acid and similar products. However, according to R. She\u2019ar Yashuv Cohen\u2019s long essay in <strong>Te\u1e25umin<\/strong> vol. 1, it seems clear that there is no reason for concern that citric acid contains <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>. More precisely: the starch is first separated from the gluten by spinning the wheat flour in water for six minutes. As we know, it takes 18 minutes for flour and water to become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>, so the flour could not have become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong> in those six minutes. By then the starch, which has already been separated from the gluten, cannot become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>, because the gluten is the substance within the flour where the leavening takes place. Without gluten, starch cannot become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>. The starch is then heated to 140\u00baC until it liquefies as dextrose (glucose). This heating process destroys the existing molecules and changes their composition. To dispel any doubt, an attempt was made to leaven this substance, but it was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n<p>The liquid dextrose is then mixed with sulfur to destroy the enzymes in it and render it inert and unable to ferment. Since it never had the chance to become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>, it certainly will not become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong> in the future. This is the first stage of the process, which shows that the extracted starch does not become <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong>. The next step is to place the liquid into large vats, to feed the molds. It is left until the mold has finished digesting all of the dextrose and excreted another substance: citric acid. Thus, citric acid is not a product of the starch, but a product of the mold. Just as if one used organic fertilizer that contained remnants of bread to fertilize vegetables, the vegetables would undoubtedly be kosher for Pesa\u1e25, certainly citric acid excreted by molds that digested a liquid that never became <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong> in the first place would be kosher for Pesa\u1e25. This conclusion has major implications for other industrial ingredients that use wheat starch that never became <strong>\u1e25ametz<\/strong> and that undergoes fundamental alterations before being reintegrated into food.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Citric acid is used to flavor juices, jams, candies, and various food items. In the past it was extracted from lemons and other fruit, but nowadays it is produced commercially from wheat flour. Although during the production process the flour is initially mixed with water and may become \u1e25ametz, at a later stage it loses [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-08-pesah-kashrut"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>08.\u00a0Citric Acid - Peninei Halakha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"08.\u00a0Citric Acid - Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Citric acid is used to flavor juices, jams, candies, and various food items. In the past it was extracted from lemons and other fruit, but nowadays it is produced commercially from wheat flour. Although during the production process the flour is initially mixed with water and may become \u1e25ametz, at a later stage it loses [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-04T06:08:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-21T08:29:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63\"},\"headline\":\"08.\u00a0Citric Acid\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-04T06:08:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-21T08:29:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/\"},\"wordCount\":657,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"08 \u2013 Laws of Kashrut on Pesa\u1e25\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/\",\"name\":\"08.\u00a0Citric Acid - Peninei Halakha\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-04T06:08:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-21T08:29:40+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u05d3\u05e3 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"08.\u00a0Citric Acid\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Peninei Halakha\",\"description\":\"HaRav Eliezer Melamed\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Peninei Halakha\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2020\/08\/logo-ph-.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2020\/08\/logo-ph-.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":64,\"caption\":\"Peninei Halakha\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63\",\"name\":\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/author\/shlomit12\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"08.\u00a0Citric Acid - Peninei Halakha","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"08.\u00a0Citric Acid - Peninei Halakha","og_description":"Citric acid is used to flavor juices, jams, candies, and various food items. In the past it was extracted from lemons and other fruit, but nowadays it is produced commercially from wheat flour. Although during the production process the flour is initially mixed with water and may become \u1e25ametz, at a later stage it loses [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/","og_site_name":"Peninei Halakha","article_published_time":"2011-03-04T06:08:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-21T08:29:40+00:00","author":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/"},"author":{"name":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63"},"headline":"08.\u00a0Citric Acid","datePublished":"2011-03-04T06:08:47+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-21T08:29:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/"},"wordCount":657,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#organization"},"articleSection":["08 \u2013 Laws of Kashrut on Pesa\u1e25"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/","url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/","name":"08.\u00a0Citric Acid - Peninei Halakha","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-03-04T06:08:47+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-21T08:29:40+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/04-08-08\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u05d3\u05e3 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea","item":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"08.\u00a0Citric Acid"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/","name":"Peninei Halakha","description":"HaRav Eliezer Melamed","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#organization","name":"Peninei Halakha","url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2020\/08\/logo-ph-.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2020\/08\/logo-ph-.png","width":300,"height":64,"caption":"Peninei Halakha"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63","name":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8"},"url":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/author\/shlomit12\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}