The following notice was submitted today by the Star-K: Consumers are advised that there is an ongoing infestation issue with Yoshon Barley. This is regardless of the brand or hechsher. It is usually the result of improper storage which affects Yoshon barley in particular which tends to be stored for long period of time before reaching the marketplace.
Yoshon Barley should not be used without careful checking at this time. Consumers are advised to soak the barley in water for 15-20 minutes and then check the surface of the water for insects. If none are found, the barley may be used.
What a surprise! None of the “Heimishe”, ultra frum hechsheirim came out with this alert! I have actually always wondered about being makpid on yoshon at the expense of tolaim many times. Tolaim are a very prevalent problem today with grains that are stored.
Barley has a 3 year shelf life & you could purchase Goya check the date of almost 3 years in Shoprite after Pesach, & store it in your freezer or at least fridge.
Heimishe brands with dates like TL031lkp123, may have been fresh when your grandmother was still single.
The yashan date for Goya is September 7, 2015, based on last year’s yashan guide where the date was September 7, 2014 (this year’s hasn’t been released yet and we’ve been advised to use last year’s codes). In my local supermarket, I saw that the bags in the front of the pile were dates September 12 and September 13, but if I dug to the bag, I found bags with August dates and earlier….enough for a full winter’s worth of cholents….
I mean …dug to the back.
All Barley regardless of date code or brand must be checked for infestation. The only reliable method is to soak 1 bag at a time in hot water (hot tap water will do) stir a few times & some of the insects will float.