[Avodah] [Areivim] Reading the Ingredient Panel

[Harry Maryles]

--- On Fri, 11/28/08, Yitzchok Levine <Larry.Levine at stevens.edu> wrote:



The following is from the latest issue of Kashrus Connection from the Chof-K which I have posted at http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/kashrus/kk_newsletter4.pdf YL

Reading the Ingredient Panel
Can one tell the kashrus of a product by
reading a list of ingredients?

The list of ingredients is not enough. A product
can be made on equipment which was used for
non-kosher foods, which would require a
kashrus agency to kasher the utensils prior to the
manufacturing of the kosher product. An
ingredient panel might say “flavors”; this can
mean anything at all, since the government
does not require the company to specify the
source of the flavors that go into their product.
Nonetheless, there are some products which
may be bought without such a symbol, such as
non-flavored seltzer, non-flavored tea, and
unflavored bottled water.
 
This is true. 
 
But I have been told by people who involved in Hechsherim that there are some things a label can tell you. 
 
Lactose intolerance can be a serious problem. Those who have it can get violently ill in some cases. So the FDA policy IIUC is to clearly mention if there is even a trace of milk in any of food product. If it does not say so on their ingredient panel, then one can be assured that a product has no milk or milk product in it - even if it has a D attached to the Hechsehr. The OU policy is to label those products that are dairy free but made in dairy equipement  with a D for dairy. The reason they do that is because most people don't know that the only thing one may not do with such food is cook it with meat products. One may however eat such a product after eating meat. Chaf-K does in fact label their products DE when appropriate. I'm not sure about other Hechsher organizations.
 
A D next to an OU does not therefore make a prodcut automaticly dairy. By reading the ingredients one can determine if their is any dairy in their at all even B'Mashehu. If it is, it will be cleary listed and will probably also contain a warning in bold letters.
 
But please do not rely on me. Before taking this advice one should consult a 'Hechsher savy' O Rabbi.
 
HM
 

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