Friends, there are so many things I want to respond to from recent
postings, I could spend the day at the computer!  Not advisable, with
two young boys on the loose!
 I'll tackle the parve thing first.

Robyn's explanation of the parve desgnation is right on ( as
always....thank you Robyn!).

In the last months I have been contacting some of the kashrut
organizations ( and there are many) and have found one, in particular,
to be extremely helpful (and concerned for the health of my boy).  This
is the Kosher Overseers, in Los Angeles.  They have a fascinating
website, (and a remarkably wonderful philosophy and mission) which I do
not have at this moment, but will locate for anyone who wants it..just
email me.  In response to a question I posed about the tolerance for any
amount at all of dairy in a parve food, I received no less than three
phone calls from several of their Rabbis from various locations around
the country, AND a couple of emails.

Here is, in a nutshell, what I learned:  There is no tolerance for any
dairy of any kind intentionally added to any parve food.  (this I
knew).  If an accidental contamination occurs, and the amount is less
than 1/60th, it is considered OK.  Once the error is discovered,
however, it must be corrected, and the area immediately made parve
again.  The Rabbis are quite knowledgeable about the origins of food
additives, and are extremely strict.  When I asked one of the Rabbis who
called me about the possibility of milk protein being present in
carageenan, as I read about here on this list, he was quite surprised,
and had never heard that...carageenan is considered to be a neutral food
(parve) ingredient.  He was going to look into it, and let me know if he
found anything of interest.

I also inquired about the different organizations and their different
standards of practice,  I was assured that all of the organizations are
orthodox-affiliated, and would be the same or similar in their
interpretations of what a parve food would be.  I felt reassured, and
continue to happily rely upon the various kosher heckshers for locating
safe foods for my son.

I have found some really great and fun products in the last couple of
months, and will try to do a post listing some of these as soon as I can
get my kids into bed tonight.  In the meantime, good luck to you all.  I
always appreciate the helpful dialogue on this list.