Community Magazine January 2019

102 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Nobody wants bugs in their food. But it’s not merely a matter of taste. It’s essential for your health and religious observance. The Torah prohibits us from eating insects, stating: “All the swarming things that swarm on the ground you shall not eat” ( Vayikra - Leviticus 11:42). Approximately four years ago the owners of Tovah Family Farms, a privately-held business, decided to create a company that would provide top-quality, bug-free frozen vegetable products to kosher homes worldwide and would offer them at reasonable prices. They also recognized the need for superior and stringent bedikat tolaim (checking for insect manifestation) processes. 1 Why Choose Frozen Over Fresh Vegetables? The average consumer probably assumes that fresh vegetables are better for us. But surprisingly, research shows that frozen vegetables may be the healthier option. The global frozen vegetable market was valued at nearly $25 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach a market size of $30 billion by 2022. When considering whether to choose frozen or fresh veggies, it is important to take into account when the vegetables were picked and how long ago. Homegrown vegetables and vegetables harvested for purposes of commercial freezing are generally picked when they are fully ripe. This is the time when vegetables have the most nutrients. They are also frozen soon after they are picked. The typical fresh vegetable sold in your local supermarket or produce store is often harvested under ripe, and sits on a truck before moving to your grocery shelf, and then landing in your refrigerator or on your counter. When a vegetable is picked too early it does not reach its nutritional potential and also loses more 1 In some respects, new or organic pesticides have brought new insects. Broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach are the most problematic when it comes to bugs. Bugs can fall into the green leaves and require more checking and cleaning. vitamins in storage. Vegetables can lose as much 50% of certain nutrients during the two weeks that may pass from when they are picked until they are eaten. When attached to a growing plant, a vegetable keeps on producing nutrients, i.e. vitamins and minerals. Why Choose Tovah Family Farms? Tovah’s mission is to treat every single customer as a member of its extended family, and therefore its stakeholders established the highest quality processes and procedures, from the planting and harvesting, through the picking, cleaning, checking and packaging of its vegetables. Its management has transformed the kosher frozen vegetable market with “quality control” as its mantra. Excellent care and detailed attention to the highest level of bedikat tolaim and commitment to purity are woven into each of its processes and procedures. Kashrut and Bedikat Tolaim The kashrut process at Tovah Family Farms is unmatched, as they go above and beyond the most stringent humrot for tolaim within the industry. The initial bedikah is done after each piece of hand-picked vegetables is washed. Pure well water (containing no chemicals) is utilized for the washing in high-pressured jacuzzi baths. 2 This scrubbing and inspection cycle is repeated an additional two times, using a highly efficient triple filtered water purification process. By adhering to the most stringent kashrut standard above and beyond nekar ayin 3 , Tovah is ensuring that its customers will only serve the best tasting, highest quality, kosher mehadrin min 2 To avoid pollution found in Chinese lakes and rivers. 3 The three factors that govern the Biblical prohibition against eating insects are: rov  (the majority), nir’eh l’ay’nayim  (visible to the normal eye), and  bitul  (nullification). The concept of rov when applied to insect infestation divides vegetables into the following three categories: Miyut she’ayno matzuy,  vegetables in which insects are not commonly found, muchzak b’tola’im , vegetables that are commonly infested, and miyut ha’matzuy , meaning those for which only a minority of such vegetables would be expected to exhibit insect infestation. Such infestation is nevertheless considered relatively common. Before eating such vegetables, there is a rabbinic requirement to check for infestation. For more details, see http://www.kashrut.com/articles/Bugs_in_Lettuce/. ELLEN GELLER KAMARAS TOVAH FAMILY FARMS: “From Harvest to Product in One Day”