Insects in Dried Fruits from Previous Year — Public Warning and Bedikah

Description

The Chasam Sofer rules that while personal stringency to avoid dried fruits from the prior year is praiseworthy, this concern cannot be imposed on the public, since the fruit retains a chezkas heter combined with a statistical majority, rendering the concern a mere miut hamatzui against both. When bedikah is impossible because the mites have died and cannot be detected, thorough washing suffices, and established Jewish practice supports leniency. He nonetheless recommends that from Kislev onward, individuals should ideally refrain from eating such fruits, and that his student should not sell them in his store.