NEWARK, N.J. — When Passover begins at sundown April 19 and Jewish families gather for the traditional seder meal, they can expect this question: "What happened to the Tam Tams?"

The bite-sized matzo crackers are a Passover perennial, perfect for dipping in egg salad or chopped liver and eating straight from the box.

But Manischewitz, the global kosher food producer, has temporarily stopped making Tam Tams because of production problems at its Newark, N.J., plant.

A $15 million oven that was supposed to debut in October didn't come on line until December, Manischewitz spokesman David Rossi said. That didn't leave enough time to produce the company's full line of matzo products for Passover.

"We realized there are only so many hours in the day that we can make matzos, and something had to give," Rossi said.

Matzo is a flat bread or cracker made without yeast, so the dough won't rise before it is baked. The eating of matzo is an essential part of the Passover seder, which commemorates the Exodus of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt, said Rabbi Esther Reed, of the Hillel Center at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

There's still plenty of standard matzo on the store shelves, made by Manischewitz, Streit's and other producers. Streit's makes a bite-sized matzo cracker, as does Savion, and they may fill the void for consumers during the eight-day observance of Passover, which ends after sundown April 27.

Rossi said Tam Tams will be back in stores in May.