(This article is provided by the Star-K.)
How does a supermarket get the food that it sells? A distributor brings the food from the manufacturer to a warehouse, from where it is sent to individual supermarkets. If the distributer is Jewish, and he owned the chometz during Pesach, that food would be forbidden after Pesach. Even if the supermarket is owned by non-Jews, the food would still be forbidden after Pesach, as it was owned by a Jew during Pesach.
C&S Wholesale Grocers is a wholesale distributor of food and grocery store items. It is a privately held company, and is the largest wholesale grocery supply company in the United States. It currently serves about 5,000 stores in 15 states (including California, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania). Its customers include Safeway, Target, A&P, Stop & Shop, Giants, Ralphs, Foodtown, and Winn-Dixie.
However, the STAR-K does not have information as to which specific products are distributed by C&S, nor which specific stores are serviced by them. The company was founded in 1918 by Israel Cohen and Abraham Siegel. Rick Cohen is the current chairman and CFO, and is the third generation of the family to lead the company. It is assumed that he is Jewish.
In the past, a prominent rabbi arranged a mechiras chometz for C&S distributors. However, as mentioned above, according to Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l this sale would not include the chometz that C&S acquired during Pesach. Recently, another prominent Posek has been selling the entire company to a non-Jew for the duration of Pesach, so that any chometz bought during Pesach would also belong to that non-Jew. While this sale is to be welcomed, it is not without halachic difficulties, and some feel that the sale of a multi-million dollar corporation for the duration of Pesach is halachically questionable.
Stores which receive goods from C&S may also work with other non-Jewish distributors, and it is very difficult to determine whether any particular product was distributed by C&S or by another company.
As mentioned above, safek chometz sheovar olov haPesach is permitted, and this would include goods which may or may not have been owned by C&S during Pesach. However, if a person has the option of shopping at a store which does not receive goods from a Jewish distributor that may have owned chometz on Pesach, it is commendable to do sountil four weeks after Pesach.
There are more than 35,000 supermarkets in America, and it is not possible to know who owns them or distributes to every one of them. A local Orthodox rabbi should be consulted for guidance regarding local stores and supermarkets, as well as resolution of any halachic issues.
allte yid says
My father AH, always waited at least a month until we bought from non heimush stores where we knew for sure that a real mechira was made. I also hold by this. Seems though that recently folks don’t know this … glad that this article brings it out again .
CGS says
This article tells us we have a problem, but not what to do about it. “Consult your LOR” is not really helpful. Can someone tell us which stores are okay and which not or which particular products are problematic? If this is too large a list, can a link be provided to a source?
allte yid says
To CGS – asking a Rov is always what one should do if you have a question. Aseh Licha Rav. “Make for yourself a Rov”. Every question and circumstance is different and needs a daas torah to assess, that doesnt just apply here, but in all aspects of one’s life. Locally, we are lucky that Cleveland Kosher has already prepared a list mailed and distributed, and probably on-line somewhere on this forum as well, that spells out the stores one can shop at, and the stores not to shop at, and the stores for which one can shop, but NOT in the Kosher Aisles or sections. Again, after waiting a month, maybe more or till after Shavuos can I rely that there has been sufficient turnover that new supply that wasnt chametz sheevar alav Hapesach, Chametz which a Jew owned over Pesach, is gone… but that’s just me from a mesorah from what my father A”H would typically do.