Question:
I bought expensive meat for pesach and afterwards I noticed that it doesn’t say kosher lepesach. It is totally unprocessed. Does it need a hechsher for pesach? Is there a reason to be stringent?
Answer:
Kosher butchers generally prepare their stores before Pesach to assure the meats remain out of contact with any chametz or chametz equipment. If the meat was purchased from a local butcher or store check with them to be sure about their Passover certification. If this is for some reason impossible, unprocessed whole cuts of meat can be washed off and used for Pesach. Some are extra scrupulous with regards to chametz and will not rely on rinsing without verifying the Passover certification. Any ground, seasoned or other processed meat would certainly require Passover certification.
