"W. Baker" > wrote in message
...
> Ellen K. > wrote:
>
> : "W. Baker" > wrote in message
> : ...
> : > Storrmmee > wrote:
> : > : i know this sounds weird, but it is my impression that kosher does
> ntot
> : > : allow meat and dairy in the same meal/same time? if so does this
> : > include
> : > : all dairy or just milk? also can you use a substitute like parkey or
> : > : soy/rice cheese? i know this is off topic but i just read about soy
> : > cream
> : > : cheese substitute and that set me wondering, Lee
> : >
> : > All dairy is included in the injunction to not eat meat and milk in
> the
> : > same mal, etc. You can use supbstitutes like soy milk, etc as long as
> : > there is no lctose in it t all. that is , often why you have to use
> : > non-daiary products that carry a small label that tells you that it is
> : > approved by a kosher supervising agancy.
> : >
> : > There is a soy cream cheese substitute, brand name, Tofutti. They also
> : > make a sour cram subastitute. You can amake a substitue by adding
> bit of
> : > lemon juic eor vinegar to the soy milk to kind of curdle it. All
> kinds of
> : > tricks to try to broaden ones repetoire.
> : >
> : > Wendy
> : >
>
> : I think lactose per se is not the issue, if it is possible to create it
> : chemically without physical milk it wouldn't be dairy. The issue is
> : physical milk, i.e. milk that was produced by an animal.
>
> That is why those of us wh keep kosher need to have our hachsher on many
> priducts , because there well may be ingrredients with a long distnt dairy
> base that can be a problem, like much lactic acid. this is also why many
> with milk allergies look for products that have hechshers tht show either
> meat or neutral(parev) so they can have the assurance that there is no
> dairy based acids etc in the product.
>
> Wendy
>

And conversely, a product can contain lactic acid without containing any
dairy matter. (Lactic acid can apparently be created in the lab. I found
this out once when I called the supervising rav of a product labeled pareve
that showed lactic acid on the ingredient list.)

But your larger point is absolutely correct, we need a hechsher, an
ingredient list doesn't determine anything, not least because the US legal
requirement is to list items amounting to 2% or more of the product, whereas
batel bashishim -- if even applicable -- would be less than that... so a
product could contain a non-kosher ingredient making up more than 1/60 of
the product but less than 1/50 (2%) and we would never know by looking at
the ingredient list. Besides that, supervision is also necessary to make
sure no insects are in the product.