3 most common ingredients to look for while you shop

Living in the western countries is often challenging to one's casual diet. Since late 90's I remember standing in grocery stores flipping every item to quickly skim through the ingredient listings. I understand that this exercise is difficult for someone who is not used to it, but once you make it your shopping habit it becomes rather intuitive. Many of us who are conscious of their dietary laws according to Shariah are still struggling. So here are the THREE ingredients to be cautious about. If you see these ingredients on any package, practice caution and abstain until the suitability of the product is confirmed. This does not mean that you overlook other ingredients. These are just the most common ones.

1. Gelatin

Gelatin as the name suggests is a gelatenous substance which is more often than not derived from animal source. It is widely used as a gelling agent. Its uses are spanning a wide range of food items like ice creams, candies, marshmallows, cheese slices and others. While more and more food companies are moving towards alternative, it still remains a very common ingredient. If you are not researching a certain food item for its consumability from Shariah standpoint, then as soon as you see “Gelatin” in the ingredients, you should put the product back on the shelf and start looking for an alternative.

Some of the emerging alternatives to gelatin are “Carrageen / Carrageenan” , “Agar Agar/Seaweed ” , “Xanthan Gum” or “Guar Gum”. If you see these in the list of ingredient instead of Gelatin, then give the product a thumbs-up.

If you want to do a further research from the food company, then try the following steps as an aid :

1. If the gelatin is from a non-animal source, then it will be permissible.

2. If the gelatin is from bones of those animals which are consumable by Muslims, then such gelatin is also halal. Zabiha is not a condition for the gelatin from bones of these animals.

3. If the gelatin is from the hide/skin of those animals which are consumable by Muslims, the animal needs to be slaughtered for the gelatin to be considered halal.

4. If the gelatin is from bones or skin of animals which we cannot eat (lions, tigers), then that gelatin is not permissible.

5. If the gelatin is from any part of pork/pig/swine, it will never be halal. (1)

2. Rennet

The second culprit which makes this bad-boy list is “rennet”. There are two primary dairy products which we use on a regular basis. And if like those creamy Korma or Tanduri Chicken, or if your past time snack involves Dahi Baday or a nice Mango Lassi, or even if you just want to spruce up a Cheese Pizza, then you need to be cautious of rennet. Rennet is used in the making of cheese as well as yogurt. It is a primary ingredient to curdle the milk to get the cheese.

A breath of relief is the use of microbial enzymes to make cheese and yogurt. This alternative a life saver for many of our home made foods. However, the era of rennet is not finished as yet. Many Yogurt, cheese and other products still use rennet.

When shopping for groceries review the ingredient label and choose only those products which have “microbial enzymes” just to be safe. But again, if you want to be the Sherlock Holmes of food ingredient (as I recommend many to become), call the company up and ask along the following guidelines:

“If the source of the rennet used in making cheese is non-animal source (microbial enzymes etc) then it will be halal for consumption [This is normally mentioned on the packaging]

If the source of the rennet used in cheese is made animal source then:

–if the animal is pork/swine/pig, then the cheese will be haram [Normal packaging may mention porcine rennet]

–if the animal is such that muslims consume (i.e. bovine, cattle etc.), then the cheese will be halal (the animal must have been slaughtered according to zabiha rights).” (2)

3. Whey / Whey Powder

Whey is another such ingredient that is notorious to pop up in every such product which you normally like. Just like gelatin, whey also has a meandering check and balance to see whether it is Shar'an acceptable for consumption or not. After all, you don't want no any porky porky stuff going down your belly. One thing is for sure though, the chances of whey being permissible in the commercial product are higher than the gelatin being from permissible source.

My brothers (and sisters if any) out there who want to buff up those muscles, pump some iron at the gym and chug down those protein shakes or chew that energy bar at lunch breaks, you really need to be aware of the source of whey in your diet.

Whey is the by-product of curdling of the cheese. If you ever witness the process yoruself, it is the white liquid left as the milk curdles to make cheese. Here is a video that shows separating soft cheese from whey (Click Here). This whey is either used as a direct ingredient for different products, or the globular proteins within it are isolated to give you the power of whey protein.

Since the root of this problem is not the whey itself, rather the rennet used to curdle the milk, the test of permissibility is same as the rennet above.

-Abuhajira

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(1) http://fatwa.ca/hadhrwalibaha/vitamin-d-capsules-using-gelatin-or-cholecalciferol/

(2) http://fatwa.ca/hadhrwalibaha/could-you-give-an-easy-to-understand-guideline-for-assessing-suitability-of-cheese/