Question about Kosher labeling vegan

I've found some 52% vegetable oil "butter" spread at my local Stop & Shop that comes at an amazing price versus other vegan butters like Earth Balance. It gives you four full-sized sticks for 75 cents. However, today I looked at the box when I was getting it out of the refrigerator and noticed that, next to the 'OU' that indicates something is Kosher, there is a 'D'. Now, the back of the box says that the product only contains soy in the allergy warning, no milk (and no casein in the ingredients list), and the only vague item in the ingredients is "artificial flavor".

I've actually called the company before when I first bought the product years ago, and asked if the product contains any dairy, and they've said no, but naturally customer service people are not infallible.

Now, I've read that the 'D' is sometimes used instead of 'DE' to indicate a product that was processed on dairy equipment. My question is: how often does this happen? And could the "artificial flavor" in the ingredients list be milk, even though the customer service rep says there's no dairy in the product?

I'd really rather not shell out $5 a tub for Earth Balance, but I will if necessary, though I'd like to hear the opinions of someone who's more familiar with the Kosher labeling practices first.

Thanks in advance.

Submitted March 16, 2015 at 04:12AM by SomniferousAlmond http://ift.tt/1GahVrk vegan