Since we've been discussing kashrus the past few days.. here's an interesting one from the OU
Q. I bought a box of cornflake crumbs that were labeled OU-D. The OU’s Webbe Rebbe (Kosherq@OU.org) told me that this OU-D product does not contain dairy ingredients, but it was made on dairy equipment (DE). I am aware that DE products should not be eaten with meat. By accident, I baked my chicken with the cornflake crumbs. Can I eat the chicken or must it be discarded?
A. If we knew that the cornflake crumbs were made on dairy equipment after a 24 hour downtime, there would be no concern. However, we are unable to make that determination, and commonly there is no downtime between dairy and pareve productions.
There are three different opinions among poskim as to the status of these crumbs and the chicken.
Sefardim follow the ruling of Shulchan Aruch (YD 95:1-2) that these crumbs are fully pareve and may be cooked together with meat. Although Shulchan Aruch agrees that lechatchila one may not bake a pareve item in a dairy oven with the intention of serving it with meat, bidieved, if baked without intention, the item is pareve.
Rama writes that these crumbs may not be served together with meat lichatchila, but bidi’eved (after the fact) if they were accidentally cooked with meat, the food would be permitted. In addition, there is no need to wait six hours after meat before eating a DE item. Once the meat is removed from the table, this item may be served.
The Shach follows the ruling of the Maharshal that nat bar nat through tzli or afiah (roasting or baking) is treated more stringently than nat bar nat of bishul. According to the Shach, if these crumbs were baked with meat, the meat would be forbidden.
There is a difference of opinion among poskim as to whether the Ashkenazim follow the ruling of the Rama or the Shach. However, in this case of the chicken baked with cornflake crumbs there is an additional reason to be lenient. It is possible that the cornflakes were made in the factory more than 24 hours after the dairy products, in which case the crumbs would not be affected by the dairy flavor in the oven. Because of this additional uncertainty, if the cornflakes were already baked with chicken, the food may be eaten.
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