To vastly oversimplify, Jewish law forbids eating certain classes of animal (including, for example, pork and shellfish), and forbids eating meat or poultry products with milk or milk products.

People who need (or wish) to avoid consuming milk can benefit from the fact that Jewish dietary laws impose restrictions on the consumption of milk products along with meat products.

Kosher foods are thus divided into 3 categories: Meat -- includes beef, lamb, chicken, etc. Milk -- includes milk, milk products, milk components (casein, whey, lactose) Parve (or Pareve) -- fruits, vegetables, grains, fish, eggs Foods classified as parve contain no milk or meat products, and can be eaten with either milk or meat.

When purchasing food, Jews need to know if a food is strictly kosher, and if so, what is its classification (milk, meat or parve). Toward this end, the various organizations of Rabbis who inspect food manufacturing plants have registered proprietary trademarks (little graphic icons) that they license to food manufacturers to be printed on the labels of the packages.