>On Wed, 3 Dec 1997, Judith Murray Griffiths wrote:
>
>> Would you mind telling me what "pareve" means?
>
>Not at all.  This is a HUGE topic though, so I am just going to tell you
>about food labelling.
>
>The "pareve" designation is related to the kosher dietary laws, which do
>not permit milk and meat to be eaten at the same time.  Foods which are
>pareve contain neither meat nor milk.
>
>In the US, the most common symbol indicating kosher status of food is the
>letter U with a cirle around it.  You may see "pareve" or "parve" after
>the U.  That means (for our purposes) that the food is completely
>non-dairy and safe for us to eat.

NO - NOT NECESSARILY! If you're allergic to casein, sodium caseinate, etc,
you can have a reaction to some Kosher pareve items, since casein is
considered pareve. That is also the case for some other, milk-derived
items. Those who are extremely allergic to all milk-derived products still
must read the labels of the pareve foods and may need to contact the
manufacturer.

>
>The word "dairy" or the letter D after the heksher means that you do not
>want to eat it.  Sometimes you may see the abbreviation "DE".  That stands
>for "Dairy Equipment" and means that the food was prepared using
>equipment which had been exposed to dairy products or to foods containing
>dairy products.  The letter P means that the food is kosher for passover.
>That is not the same as pareve.
>
>If you are interested in a more detailed treatment of this topic, I think
>we have a pareve FAQ for this mailing list. I am not sure how to access it
>though.
>
>Amanda