The circled "U," sometimes with the word "Parve," stands for Union of Orthodox Jews (UOJCA), the "K" stands for Kosher (KOV K). Both will not be found on the same package. These symbols mean that the product's producer paid the Jews a kind of "tax" to have some rabbi "bless" it.
Don't confuse these letters with the letter "R" which stands for registered trade mark or a letter "C" which stands for copyright. These two letters will probably be there too. You have now discovered what the Jews call "hechsers," a rip-off code found on most grocery items.
If this were nothing more than a bizarre religious ceremony, giving rabbinical approval to food and food products prepared in a specific way to meet an unusual diet, then why are steel wool and kitchen utensils also included? The Jews have a strange diet indeed! If these "blessings" are so important to Jews, why do they charge for them? You would think that they would be willing to give this service free--for benefit of their own people--and perhaps pay something to food product companies for providing this Kosher identification. Instead, it's the reverse--companies have to pay to have the Kosher identification.
Since Jews represent a small percent of America's population, why is it that they place most of the burden of this "tax" on the shoulders of the Gentile? Why have the Gentile consumers been so silent for so long about this perennial extortion by the Jews? And since this burden comes off as a "tax," don't Gentiles have a right to know where and how this money is spent? How on earth do the Jews get away with this daylight robbery? The answer is that the Jewish blessing agencies wield enormous power through Jewish domination of the retail and distribution trades..and Jews own America's press. Non- compliance by a food producer would quickly bring about a Jewish boycott of the product. Bankruptcy!
Here is how this clever scheme works. An Orthodox Rabbi will approach a company and warn the owners that unless their product is certified as Kosher, or "fit for a Jew to eat", they will face a boycott by every Jew in America. Once they succumb to this BLACKMAIL, they are required to keep the total amount paid the Rabbis every year a strict secret!
The growth of this Kosher racket has been nothing less than phenomenal. In 1960, only 225 food products paid the Kosher tax. By 1966, this figure grew to 476 and jumped to 1000 by 1974. Today, a whopping 17,500 companies have been intimidated into paying this multi-level tax.
The Union of Orthodox Rabbis which issues the (U) symbol controls 80% of the Kosher certification business. They employ some 300 Rabbis who travel nation-wide "inspecting" food processing plants. First, the company must pay an annual fee for the use of the copyright symbol--the (U) or (K) or a version thereof. Second, the company must pay a separate heavy fee each time a team of Rabbis shows up to "inspect" their plant (Certain meat packers are required to hire Rabbis full time at extravagant salaries). Third, the company must pay these fees over and over again for each different product they make.
Only by increasing the public awareness of the Kosher Food Tax and doing our best to refrain from purchasing products with the "K" or "U" symbols, can we begin to end this outrage being perpetrated upon our people. With the purchasing power of the dollar less all the time, we cannot afford this outrage to continue unchecked.
In addition to the above article, I would like to add if this is their code, just what are they putting into the foods without the code? This code is more than "kosher" is represents food that is safe to consume for the Jews.