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I attended a fantastic lecture on kashrus and dairy products by Rabbi Zushe Yosef Blech, shlita, who was asked an interesting question: Can you eat Oreo cookies after a fleishig meal? It was pointed out that although the kashrus symbol indicates that the product is kosher but dairy, another part of the label that must list whether there are any ingredients for which many people suffer dangerous allergies (e.g. nuts or milk), as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, does not list dairy items at all. Rabbi Blech made the amusing comment that "Not only can you eat Oreos after a fleishig meal, it is a mitzvah to do so." He explained that the manufacturer is more concerned about getting sued by consumers who have unwittingly eaten an allergen than the rabbis certifying their product. He says that the OU these days puts a "d" on any product where the line has been used for dairy products (and not kashered). Is this an opinion by most poskim, or is Rabbi Blech out on a limb?

Monica Cellio
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Bruce James
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    related? http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/143/why-doesnt-the-ou-put-de-on-food-packages-anymore – rosends Aug 07 '13 at 17:58
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    Call the OU. That's the best way to answer this question. – Hacham Gabriel Aug 07 '13 at 18:01
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    Dairy equipment likely. Or just a lazy company that doesn't want to redo the package for a new hechsher – Double AA Aug 07 '13 at 18:10
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    @DoubleAA Oreos actually used to be labeled DE until the OU got rid of that designation. – Daniel Aug 07 '13 at 18:30
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    IANAL but I don't think the ADA requires such labeling. – msh210 Aug 07 '13 at 22:17
  • @Daniel Oreos aren't even DE. They are just pareve. Nabisco is in the category of companies that are too lazy to change their packaging in case they eventually change the formulation to include milk. – Double AA Aug 08 '13 at 07:59
  • For the FDA's allergen labeling rules, see http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/Allergens/ucm059116.htm. Note in particular that "FALCPA does not address the use of advisory labeling." –  Jan 08 '14 at 16:13
  • see https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/48037/creating-a-crowd-sourced-database-of-non-dairy-ou-d-products – הנער הזה Jul 21 '16 at 03:06
  • Can someone explain to me why Rabbi Blech calls it a mitzvah to eat Oreos after fleishigs? Wouldn't it anyway be marit ayin? – SAH Oct 10 '16 at 14:17
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    @SAH -- Reb Zushe is a man who likes to eat and knows his cookies. He is also not a fan of the OU's dairy equipment policy. Finally, he has a very good sense of humor; at the time he answered a question of permissibility to eat Oreos after a fleishig meal, his statement that it is also a "mitzvah" got a big laugh from my congregation. – Bruce James Oct 31 '16 at 17:17
  • R' Aviner agrees with R' Blech. Answer TBW. http://www.kipa.co.il/%D7%99%D7%94%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A6%D7%A8-%D7%97%D7%9C%D7%91%D7%99-%D7%9C%D7%9C%D7%90-%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%9B%D7%99%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%97%D7%9C%D7%91%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%90%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%9A-%D7%9C/ – Isaac Moses Jul 13 '17 at 14:43
  • dairy equipment, since the OU got rid of the label entirely – ava Nov 30 '21 at 19:17

3 Answers3

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Rabbi Bleich is very well-respected in the kashrus industry, and he has a tremendous amount of practical industry know-how. I'm not sure how anything he said here would be "out on a limb."

An "OU-D" can mean any of the following:

  • Product is halachically dairy.
  • Product was made on dairy equipment. (I.e. don't eat it with meat, but you could eat it afterwards.)
  • Product is halachically pareve, but the "D" is there to warn those with allergies that there may be traces of dairy.
  • Product is halachically pareve, but the company figured to just put the "D" on there in case they felt like reformulating to dairy ingredients in the future, or switching the equipment to dairy.

You can call the OU and ask them about a given OU-D product, "is this halachically dairy or made on dairy equipment?"

Personally I wouldn't trust the allergen label alone as proof of pareveness, but it would probably mean it's worth trying to call the OU. (Please don't bother the OU by calling to ask whether Smith's Country Vanilla Yogurt is really dairy.) If Rabbi Bleich commented about Oreos, that's because he knows exactly what goes on in their factory.

Shalom
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    FWIW I have followed this advice and called the OU about an OU-d product that did not list dairy in the allergen information or anything that I recognized as dairy in the ingredients. I think it was some brand of saltine crackers. When I called them, they said the product was indeed dairy and not just dairy equipment. I didn't press them for details beyond that. – Daniel Oct 21 '15 at 00:46
  • If the product was only made on dairy equipment, you can eat it with meat since there is no taam given my the stainless steel equipment. – far22 May 19 '16 at 09:43
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I sent an email to the OU (kosherq@ou.org) about this issue and received the following response:

No, one cannot assume that these products are DE, as some companies are not concerned about allergen and will not write a dairy warning. They may still contain actual dairy. [emphasis mine]

If a product lists dairy ingredients on the ingredient panel, it is obviously dairy. Some common dairy ingredients are Milk, Yogurt, Cheese, Cream, Butter, Whey, Lactose, Casein, and Caseinate. However, a product may contain a dairy ingredient that is not listed on the ingredient panel such as those present in the product’s unspecified ingredient ‘flavors’. Due to these concerns it is not entirely possible to determine the dairy status of a product based solely on the listed ingredients.

I also asked about Oreos specifically, and was told that:

At the present time [late 2012], most varieties of Oreo Cookies contain dairy ingredients, with two notable exceptions. Original Oreo Sandwich Cookie and Oreo Double Stuf Sandwich Cookie do not contain dairy ingredients, though they are manufactured on dairy equipment.

Please note that it is possible that the manufacturer will reformulate this product and add a true dairy ingredient. You will not be able to know this, since the OUD kosher symbol will remain the same. We recommend that you call our office every 3 months to reconfirm the DE status of this product.

I highly doubt very many people contact the OU every 3 months to ask about Oreos!

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Just received this week :

Kashrus Alert: Some Pringles are Now Dairy

‎Today, ‎April ‎29, ‎2018 |

Pringles has changed many of its OU pareve potato crisps to OU dairy. This may or may not be a result of a product reformulation.

If a Pringles product is marked OUD and ingredients state ‘whey’ or ‘milk,’ it is real dairy. If the ingredients don’t state ‘whey’ or ‘milk’, it is dairy equipment. Those that have the plain OU designation are pareve.

Consumers should always be careful to check for the kosher designation.

( Janglo )

Davidovici Patrick
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