On Apr 1, 2006, at 8:11 AM, Eileen Brandt wrote:
> . "P" or "Parve" means the product contains no meat
> or dairy products but may contain fish or eggs.
===========

this is incorrect. "P"  DOES NOT denote no dairy, it means that the  
product is kosher for Passover.   "Pareve" denotes no dairy.

> "D," as in "Kosher D," means
> that the product either contains milk protein or was made with dairy
> machinery.  The same holds true for items labeled with "DE"

this is not strictly true.  "D" generally means that a product  
contains milk protein but not always.  The different authorities have  
different standards. OU will use the dairy symbol if the product  
contains milk or if it was manufactured on dairy equipment.  Often OU  
"D" products are actually free of all dairy and the company who  
manufactures the product is scrupulous about cleaning the lines  
between different batches and are scrupulous about cross contamination.


Kaf-K on the other hand splits out "Dairy" and "Dairy Equipment".    
In this case you know to avoid all Kaf-K D products but after close  
questioning of the supplier you may decide it is safe to eat their DE  
products.

I agree that it is a good precaution to avoid all products with a D  
or a DE symbol but in the interest of full disclosure I did want to  
note that if you do so you are unnecessarily restricting your diet.   
However if you choose to eat products with the D or DE symbols it  
does require diligent label reading and many phone calls to  
manufacturers to find out about the cleaning procedures and cross  
contamination issues.

Robert's American Gourmet is one company that has OU D hechshers on  
their products but after close discussion with the company I am happy  
that Ting's and Veggie Booty are safe for my family.

Sherene in Norfolk.