>And then there are all the various certification bodies with their variou=
>s
>symbols.  The U in a circle may be common, but what of the others that
>people might find locally?  I have in my files a listing given out by
>KASHRUS magazine in 1988 that gives 34 of them, including two CRCs, a COR=
>,
>an OV and a DKC.  (Other sources have talked about 50 bodies.)  Would I
>recognize that all these mean kosher if I saw one in a store? Do they all=
>
>also spell out kosher on the label?  Do all of these also use the D
>designation for Dairy?  I have no idea.

There is a web page with pictures of various hechshers (kosher
certification symbols) at http://www.kashrus.org/kosher/symbol.html
Most of them do not spell out "kosher" on the label.  As far as I know,
they all use D for dairy, and a few use DE for "dairy equipment" if
there are no actual dairy ingredients in the product, but it could be
contaminated.  (food produced on dairy equipment should never be
labelled as parve -- it is either D or DE).

I would also refer people to the "parve faq" that I compiled for this
group, which is available in the archives.

--Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/7/93 and Matthew 6/16/96)
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