On Sat, 13 Feb 1999, Larissa Blechman wrote:

> No, the kosher mark  (hechsher) is not  meaningless.  It does indicate
> to us that all of the ingredients used and the processing methods are in
> accordance with Jewish law.

Agreed.  But my point was that an observant Jew also needs to know *as
well* if the product contains dairy (milchig), meat (fleischig), or
neither (pareve) so as not to violate the rules accidentally by eating the
wrong things together.

Kris' explanation of how OU handles its mark helps me understand somewhat
better.