liss@gramps.DEC (Frederick R. Liss DTN 237-3649) (11/05/85)
While I was eating dinner last night I idly picked up the
bottle of salad dressing and began to read the label. I was
surprised to see one of the ingredients was caviar oil,
especially since there is a "U" on the label. This doesn't
particularly bother me, but many of my Lubovitch friends will
serve fish with separate plates and silverware. They then
clear the table and set it for meat or dairy as appropriate.
Knowing that some people keep fish separate from meat and
dairy, how can the manufacturer of the salad dressing put a
"U" on the label. The brand in question is Ken's Steak House
salad dressing. It may be a local brand.
Regards,
Fred
---
Frederick R. Liss UUCP ...decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-gramps!liss
Digital Equipment Corp. ARPA liss%gramps.DEC@decwrl.ARPA
333 South St. Shrewsbury MA, 01545 Mail Stop SHR1-4/D21ayf@erc3ba.UUCP (A.Y.Feldblum) (11/07/85)
The issue of Kosher or not is what the presence of the symbol of the
rabbinic supervisory organization ( the Union of Orthodox Rabbis in this
particular case) on the product addresses. The symbol says that there
are no nonkosher elements in the product, and there are no problems in
it's manufacture. The next issue is how you, as a consumer, will use the
product. Since it is not permitted to eat meat and dairy together,
products may often have the words {meat, dairy, pareve (neither meat nor
dairy) } on them to let you know with what other things they may be
used. (The UO will sometimes include the letter 'D' to indicate that
something is dairy.) However this is not always done, and it is a good
habit to read the ingredients label to check.
The issue of fish is different. Eating meat and dairy together is a
problem in the laws of Kosher. Fish is pareve and may, with regard to
the laws of Kosher, be eaten with either meat or dairy. As such, items
containing fish are not marked as such. Those who do not eat meat and
fish together, base it on a question of health. The Talmud states that
eating meat and fish together can lead to danger. I have not come
across any authority that extends this danger to fish oils, and to
products that contain some amount of fish oil or by-products. As to
whether there is any such danger in eating fish and dairy, the majority
of the opinions are that there is no danger. There is one major
authority who seems to say that there is, and he quotes someone else as
his source, who does not say that, and the consenses is that an error
crept in here somewhere. There are few however who do extend it. (I'll
recheck and post the details later on).
I guess the conclusion is that the supervisory organizations tell you
that the product is kosher and "may" tell you if it is dairy, meat or
pareve, but the use of the product in any given meal is your
responsibility.
Avi Feldblum
AT&T Tech - ERC
uucp: {allegra, ihnp4}!pruxc!ayf or
!erc3ba!ayf
>
> While I was eating dinner last night I idly picked up the
> bottle of salad dressing and began to read the label. I was
> surprised to see one of the ingredients was caviar oil,
> especially since there is a "U" on the label. This doesn't
> particularly bother me, but many of my Lubovitch friends will
> serve fish with separate plates and silverware. They then
> clear the table and set it for meat or dairy as appropriate.
>
> Knowing that some people keep fish separate from meat and
> dairy, how can the manufacturer of the salad dressing put a
> "U" on the label. The brand in question is Ken's Steak House
> salad dressing. It may be a local brand.
>
> Regards,
> Fredsieg@bocar.UUCP (B A Siegel) (11/08/85)
In article 1620@erc3ba A. Y. Feldbllum writes .. > The issue of Kosher or not is what the presence of the symbol of the > rabbinic supervisory organization ( the Union of Orthodox Rabbis in this > particular case) on the product addresses. The symbol says that there > are no nonkosher elements in the product, and there are no problems in > it's manufacture. The next issue is how you, as a consumer, will use the > product. Since it is not permitted to eat meat and dairy together, > products may often have the words {meat, dairy, pareve (neither meat nor > dairy) } on them to let you know with what other things they may be > used. (The UO will sometimes include the letter 'D' to indicate that > something is dairy.) However this is not always done, and it is a good > habit to read the ingredients label to check. Often even this is not enough! The rabbinic supervisory organizations DO NOT tell you whether the product is made on dairy equipment. Obviously one can not deduce this from the ingredients. This leads to problems if the item (made on dairy equipment) is eaten at the same time as eating meat. The classic case is using Hersheys choclate syrup on Pareve ice cream for dessert, in the same meal after eating meat. This is OK (no pun intended) as long as the two are not eaten simultaneously. However, items such as bread which may somehow be made on dairy equipment, yet has only Pareve ingredients, there is no indication of this (on the package) by the rabbinic supervisoy organization. Does anyone know why the rabbinic supervisory organizations let this happen? P.S. I think I heard that the "chuf-K" rabbinic supervisory organization is trying to start a new symbol to solve this problem.
warren@pluto.UUCP (Warren Burstein) (11/12/85)
[this line is treif, circumcized computers please don't eat] It's even difficult to describe the situation of a food not containing any explicit meat or dairy, but being cooked in a meat or dairy pot. People always ask "is that milk (or meat)," "no, but it was cooked in a milk pot" takes too long to say. Similarly, "pareve" is Yiddish, not Hebrew so you will sometimes see on Israeli products "may be eaten with meat or milk foods" (xlated). I think we need at least five different words to describe the possibilities. I also wish I had learned more about Kashrut in Yeshiva. They taught us lots of Mishneh Brurah but no Yoreh Deah at all. Have others had different experiences? I wonder why this is.