-
Mono &
Diglycerides are fat based emulsifier and are made by
reacting glycerol (fat based) with fats and oils. Monoglycerides
can be made from beef or pork or soybean fat. Only soybean and
zabiha slaughtered cow fat based Mono & Diglyceries are Halal. A
Halal or Kosher symbol (which meet the Islamic dietary
requirements) on a food package containing Mono & Diglycerides
indicates that it is obtained from soybean fat.
-
Whey: Muslims think that whey is milk based ingredient, it has to be
Halal but answer is NO. There are two kinds of whey, one is
sweet or rennet whey and other is acid whey. Acid whey is obtained
during the making of acid type of cheese such as cottage cheese.
Sweet or rennet whey is used more in food products then acid whey.
Sweet whey or rennet whey is a by-product of rennet cheese such as
cheddar cheese. Whey is portion of milk remaining after
coagulation and removal of curd. Whey is Halal only if the Halal
starter culture bacteria, Halal medium on which starter culture
grown (Starter culture bacteria are Halal if they obtained from
milk source not meat source and media on which these starter
culture bacteria grown has to be made from Halal ingredients such
milk), microbial rennet, microbial lipase enzyme, Halal color,
Halal flavor has added to milk. These requirements can only
obtained if the cheese and whey are Halal or Kosher certified
(which meet the Islamic dietary requirements). A Halal or Kosher
symbol (which meet the Islamic dietary requirements) on a food
package containing whey indicates that it is manufactured under
Halal or Kosher supervision.
-
FD&C
yellow No. 5 or FD&C red No. 40
are chemical dyes and they
are Halal if use as pure granular or powder form but if they use
in liquid form then the solvent has to be Halal because vegetable
oil or glycerin (from pork or beef or vegetable fat) can be used
as a solvent to dissolve mix these colors in liquid products. A
Halal or Kosher symbol (which meet the Islamic dietary
requirements) on a food package containing these colors indicates
that no pork or beef fat glycerin was used as a solvent.
-
L-Cysteine:
A non essential amino acid is used as dough conditioner in bagels,
pizza, bread, hard rolls. L-Cysteine is manufactured from human
hair (Haram source), non zabiha or dead chicken/duck feathers and
from petroleum source. MCG considered it Halal if it is made from
petroleum source.
-
Chocolate Liquor is manufactured from grinding the cocoa
nibs from cocoa bean. It is a Halal ingredient and do not contain
any liquor or alcohol.
-
Vanilla
Extract issued as a flavor and it is made from vanilla
bean extract. It contains minimum of 35% ethyl alcohol (Haram)
otherwise it will not call as vanilla extract according FDA
regulation.
If the
yeast extract or autolyzed yeast is made from baker’s
yeast then it is a Halal ingredient. But if it is made from
brewer’s yeast as a by-product of beer making then it is not
considered Halal because beer can penetrate in the yeast cells and
never convert to any other things.
-
Vinegar:
Distilled white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, malt vinegar, corn
(Maize) sugar vinegar are considered Halal. Wine Vinegar and
Balsamic vinegar are not considered Halal because of left over of
wine (alcohol) in wine.
-
Processing Aid Ingredients or Hidden ingredients in food products
and food ingredients:
FDA will allow up to 2% of
processing aid ingredients or hidden ingredients in a food product
or in a food ingredient without reporting in the ingredients
statement. Only Halal or kosher certified food products which meet
the Islamic dietary requirements protect Muslim consumers from
Haram processing aid ingredients or hidden ingredients. Examples
of Hidden ingredients are use of pork gelatin in apple juice
processing, gelatin in Beta carotene, Polysorbate 80 (a fat based
emulsifier) in vitamins mix for milk fortification.
-
Soy
Sauce: Naturally brewed soy sauce is not a Halal soy sauce
because it is just made like wine containing 2-3% ethyl alcohol in
it. Soy, wheat and water are main ingredients of naturally brewed
soy sauce. All purpose soy sauce or non brewed soy sauce is a
Halal soy sauce made from water, salt, hydrolyzed soy protein,
corn syrup and sodium benzoate.
-
Nucleotides in infant formula: Nucleotides are made from
yeast cells including torula yeast and brewer yeast. One of the
larger manufacturers of nucleotides is using a specific strain of
torula yeast and growing on alcoholic beverages such as beer and
wine to manufacture the Nucleotide. But the residual of amount of
alcohol in nucleotide is very minimum such as 200 part per
millions (PPM). Nucleotides are now adding to infant formulas such
as in Similac and Enfamil brands. Islamic dietary laws considered
alcoholic beverages are Haram. Nucleotide is considered as
Mushbooh ingredient by MCG.
-
The
Natural or artificial Flavor: consists of two things one is
flavoring material and second is solvent which could be alcohol (haram)
or water or propylen glycol (halal) or vegetable oil. The
flavoring material in natural flavors is any thing comes from
natural such vegetable source or animal source while flavoring
material in artificial flavor is from chemicals or synthetic
material.
If a food product has a Halal or
kosher symbol on its package, then Natural flavors or artificial
flavor's flavoring material comes from Halal sources, if they do not
have Halal or kosher symbol then the flavoring material may comes
from any source animal or vegetable.
Questions and Answers:
Q: Is powdered flavor and Custard
powder Halal?
Ans: Powdered Flavor and custard
powder are Halal only if they are made with Halal ingredients and
carriers
Q: Is Caramel powder Halal?
Ans: Caramel powder is Halal.
Q: Is Naturally produced Soya
Sauce Halal?
Ans: Naturally Brewed Soy sauce is NOT
Halal.
Q: Is Tang Halal?
Ans: Dry Tang powder is Halal if no
alcohol is used in flavor but the liquid Tang is not Halal because
it is not under certification. |
