MORE FROM RABBI GENACK'S ARTICLE

Many kosher agencies use a DE to indicate that a product is inherently pareve, but was made on dairy equipment. The whole idea is that food with a DE may not be eaten together with meat, but it may be eaten immediately after meat.

The OU does not use the DE designation. When something is DE, the OU simply labels it as dairy. Prof. Shapiro had questioned that in his article about glatt. Rabbi Genack responds in last week’s Forward.

The rabbi explains in straightforward language that food that is made on Dairy Equipment may not be eaten with meat at the same time. Ok, we all know that. He also wrote that the OU pioneered putting a D on dairy products so consumers would know at a glance if the product was pareve or not. Ok, so far so good. The rabbi went on to say: “Products that contain no dairy ingredients, but which are produced on dairy equipment, are also designated OU- D so as to ensure that they will not be eaten at a meat meal. There is no hidden ideology here, just honest information.”

No, Rabbi, honest information would be a DE designation. All the other agencies use it. No one has any problem understanding what it is all about.

Plus, if we read the rabbi corectly, he is wrong about something else. It appears that he is saying that it is halachically incorrect to eat a DE dessert, for example, at the end of a meat meal. Not true. The shulchan aruch is abundantly clear on that issue. We can not have the DE food on the same plate as meat, but eating it afterwards is not a problem at all. But, we might be misreading the rabbi’s comment. However, when he says “to ensure they won’t be eaten at a meat meal…” then he is beyond that which is forbidden by halacha.

We are not prepared to say as Prof Shapiro does that this is proof of the rightward shift of the OU, but we are concerned. We say to Rabbi Genack, “Gvie us honest information.”