>Next time you stroll down your supermarket aisle, take a good look at the
>ingredients of "Cool Whip" or any other similar "non-dairy topping."  In
>many instances it will have various labels to the effect that it's
>non-dairy, including "Parve" but boldly on the list of ingredients you
>will find "Sodium Casienate" which is a form of Casein, derived from
>diary.
 
Pareve items are not allowed under Jewish law to contain casein, or sodium
caseinate, or any other dairy-derived product.  Pareve certification from a
reliable source is a very good guarantee that the food contains no dairy
ingredients and that it was not processed on machinery that previously was
used with dairy ingredients.  Check out:
 
http://www.compcocity.com/koshermart/whatkosh.htm#FOOD ADDITIVES
 
for more details.  Cool Whip is not labeled Parve here!
 
 
Just a plain K is not a reliable kosher certification.  The O-U (U in a
circle) is the most common symbol, and is considered very reliable.
There are others but they are hard to describe in text.  If you checked
with an orthodox synagogue they would be able to tell you which marks
(hechshers) that you might find locally are considered reliable.  An
O-U pareve label will never occur on an item with sodium caseinate in
it (except by misprint).  http://www.kashrut.com lists consumer kashrut
alerts to alert consumers when products have been mislabelled.  (The food
allergy network http://www.foodallergy.org also features allergy alerts
when products containing common allergens, including milk products, have
been mislabelled, or when contamination has occurred on the production lines)
 
--Robyn