- 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. 40are 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 Extractissued 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.
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.