Canola Oil and Lecithin on Pesach Rabbi Moshe Bloom

PRE-PESACH SECTION TORAH VEHA'ARETZ

INSTITUTE BY RABBI MOSHE BLOOM

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Canola Oil and Lecithin on Pesach

Question: I am Ashkenazi and avoid eating kitniyot on Pesach. I would like to find out if the prohibition against eating legumes applies to canola oil. My understanding is that this oil is produced from rapeseed (liftit). Also: if canola oil is permitted, then would it also be permitted to eat chocolate when it says on the package “includes rapeseed” (תיתפל ליכמ)?

Answer: Harav Yaakov Ariel, President of Torah VeHa’aretz Institute, wrote a detailed answer (Ohala Shel Torah, part II, 67) regarding the liftit plant (Rapeseed), from which lecithin is produced. He was then chief rabbi of Ramat Gan, and was in charge of the kashrut of the Elite Chocolate Factory that remained in Ramat Gan until 2003.

Lecithin is produced from a plant called Rapeseed, Brassica napus. Lecithin is made from the small black particles in the flowers; they are not edible, but used only for feeding animals. Oil is produced from liftit through a dry extraction process. Lecithin has sticky qualities that are used in the chocolate industry. According to Rav Ariel, we can rule leniently regarding lecithin on Pesach due to the following reasons:

Lecithin is not for human consumption (only animals); there is no foodstuff at all on it and was never included in the kitniyot decree because it was unknown at the time.

Lecithin is created by dry extraction: no water is involved in the process.

The lecithin is batel b’rovan, and we can be meikel with bitul issur l’chatchila here.

However, Rav Ariel writes that there are those who are machmir and therefore, products with lecithin should be labelled “Kosher LePesach for those who eat liftit/ lecithin”; the Rabbanut HaRashit instructs this as well.

Note that Rav Yehuda Amichai, head of the Halacha Department of Torah VeHa’aretz Institute, wrote that in fact, it is best to be machmir regarding lecithin.

Lema’ase: Ashkenazim are allowed to consume canola oil and chocolate which contain lecithin, on the condition that they are labelled “Kosher for Passover.”