Apropos the recent discussion of the question regarding the
>reliability of the kosher parve designation...aren't these mislabelling
>alerts coming at an alarmingly frequent rate, lately?  Or is that just
>my imagination?  Is this the reason for the FAN's concern over kosher
>parve, or is it about the way the parve kosher designation works, in
>general?
>
As someone who has kept kosher for many years, my impression is that, if
anything, the rate has gone down.  The big difference is that there are
MANY more products under kosher supervision.  Certification has become
quite the thing to do in the food industry.

It's really quite amusing that, as the percentage of kosher households in
the population drops, all these new products are becoming available
everywhere.  There was a time I couldn't find a kosher cake mix in most
supermarkets.

Having dealt with the local highly-respected certifying organization and
having investigated a few others, I must admit that I'm extremely impressed
with the amazing degree of knowledge of the food industry they have.
Although kosher certification is advertised as bringing in enough
additional business to more than offset the costs, cynical engineer that I
am, I'm beginning to suspect that it's actually cheaper for the company
than calling in a technical consultant to audit and advise on manufacturing
quality.  The public's recognition of that fact may be secondary.

Some people have been cynical about the fact that certification is
performed for a fee.  However, my experience was so nice that I think it
should be shared.  Because my new company's future runs will be
manufactured under a new process we are developing for avoiding allergen
cross-contamination (as a result of problems I learned about on this list),
I was told to save my money for the other things I need for the start-up.
I do not need kosher certification because all my ingredients are kosher
and the new process will not introduce contaminants so my product will be
acceptable to kosher consumers.

BTW, for those of you interested in Wise CHOice but warned off because the
initial run was packaged in a factory that processes other products, look
for our ACRr (Allergen Contamination Risk-reduced) run in our new facility
which should be available in about a month.

Barbara

 Wise CHOice for lowcarb, dairy-free frozen desserts
                   http://ExpertFoods.com