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Does anybody know if the tolaim level in triple-washed lettuce bags is a miut sh'eino hamatzoi. I am specifically asking regarding the popular company "Organic Girl" which is sold in every heimesh supermarket, and I know many frum people who use it without checking for bugs, including some who said they heard they don't have to be checked from very respected roshei yeshiva. Thank You

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    As a mashgiach, I can say this: triple-washed does not mean bug-free and we don't trust it where I work, as it still requires checking and occasionally shows tola'im Apr 26, 2020 at 1:57

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Possible Answer: From Star K Website,

With a vegetable cleaning system, the means of creating a chazakah is to see if the system can effectively clean three batches of lettuce, or any other leafy vegetable, that you know was previously contaminated. After going through the wash system three samples are checked. If the samples are found to be free of infestation, a chazakah on the system has been achieved. It can now be assumed that the system can effectively clean the vegetables and no more checking is required!

Of course, periodic inspections have to be done to be sure that the system is still cleaning properly so that the chazakah can be maintained. Different conditions, seasons, or different sources of supply can affect the status quo as well, so, again, the system must be monitored constantly. At times, due to atmospheric conditions, high humidity, heavy rain, or seasonal change, there is an increase of insect presence in the fields. Of course this means that there will be more toloyim in the leafy vegetables. This manifests itself with a higher insect presence in the vegetables when the company tests the quality of the unprocessed lettuce before it is brought into the facility for further washing and processing. During these times, the wash system may not effectively clean for toloyim, and the certification is removed until the field conditions normalize so that the wash system will do an effective job. Often this occurs around Pesach when the consumer will not see the Star-K symbol on the date code for a prolonged period until conditions normalize.

Occasionally a consumer will call the Star-K and report that an insect was found in their vegetable salad. Not pleasant. However, this would not break the chazaka, nor should the bag of salad be discarded. If this happens, a good insurance practice would be to check the remaining salad. The next bag does not require additional checking.

I would only suggest to CYLOR!

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  • Thank you, so I'm wondering if someone or some organization has done this chazaka check on this company which doesn't bear any hashgacha marking, which everyone seems to assume is safe
    – Eli
    Apr 27, 2020 at 4:03

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