Food Symbols and Labels
Generally, all unprocessed fresh produce is considered kosher while the ingredients in dairy products and packaged goods need to be checked for religious supervision. the safest way to do so is look for an appropriate hekhsher, a registered kashrut symbol.
There are many organizations which supervise kashrut in North America. Each have their own symbol and some will have additional lettering for more information.
For example, some will indicate "P" for Passover, "D" for dairy, "DE" for dairy equipment (meaning the product is parve and may be eaten after a meat meal but since it was produced on dairy equipment, it cannot be eaten simultaneously with meat.) "Parve" indicates that the product may be eaten with meat or dairy.
Reading labels is not always reliable. Neither is the use of the "K". (The "K" is a letter of the alphabet and cannot be registered, and therefore, may be perfectly okay or may be totally fraudulent.) Such items as natural flavorings and colorings are not sufficient to let you know whether the source of the flavoring or coloring is animal or vegetable. Therefore, when in doubt, check with the Rabbi.
