Summary of Halal Regulations

Summary of Halal regulations

Halal regulations are an important guide for Muslim inspectors in carrying out certification. All products and raw materials used for halal production must comply with the standards of halal regulations. Following the gist of the above halal regulations, Muslim inspectors carry out Halal food certification for tens of thousands of foods worldwide. All products and raw materials used for halal production must comply with the standards of halal regulations, be processed, produced, and packaged under high cleanliness and hygiene standards, and any non-Halal product or raw material must absolutely not be used in the production process of Halal food, so as to avoid contamination or cross-contamination. The specific regulatory standards mainly consist of the following key points:

Halal regulations' requirements for raw materials Pork

Pigs and their by-products (including fat, fatty acids, hair, feathers, bones, enzymes, etc.) are considered non-halal;

Any processing of pork is prohibited (including the use of pig by-products as a medium in fermentation processing);

Human body parts

All raw materials from the human body are non-halal. (e.g., cysteine from human hair)

Alcohol

Any product that causes intoxication is classified as alcoholic;

Any beverage containing at least 1% ethanol is classified as alcoholic; beverages classified as alcoholic are non-halal and impure;

Beverages containing less than 1% ethanol produced during fermentation are not classified as alcoholic, but consuming them is still non-halal;

In addition, different Muslim countries have slightly different requirements for alcohol. For example, Singapore requires that the alcohol content in finished products not exceed 0.01%, and that the alcohol used in the production process can only serve as a solvent or for cleaning and disinfection, and that the source of the alcohol must be chemically synthesized. Therefore, for food-grade product certification, if a very small amount of chemically synthesized alcohol can be used instead of brewed alcohol, one can apply for a certificate issued by the Singapore government.

Ethanol produced by the non-brewed-alcohol industry is halal (pure). Alcoholic beverage (alcohol) industry products

1. Fusel oil produced by the alcoholic beverage industry is non-halal

2. Any component physically separated from the alcoholic beverage industry is classified as a non-halal raw material, such as: fusel oil, isoamyl alcohol, brewer's yeast, tartaric acid

3. If a separated component undergoes a chemical reaction to form a new component, then the new product is halal and pure; vinegar is halal and pure

4. Yeast separated and cleaned from alcoholic beverages to form a new raw material (without alcohol smell, taste, and color) is halal and pure.

Non-halal artificial flavors

Products named with non-halal names and sensory forms (such as rum flavoring, etc.) are classified as non-halal, even if their ingredients come from artificial raw materials (halal raw materials).

Microbial products

A microbial product is halal when its medium components (from revitalization to production medium) do not come from non-halal raw materials

Halal regulations' requirements for the production workshop

The halal production line must be separated from the non-halal production line. All equipment used to produce products containing pigs and their by-products cannot be used as a halal production line. The cleaning procedure for equipment that has been used for pigs or their by-products: wash with water 7 times, with one of those times using soil/sand or another cleaning medium

Halal regulations' requirements for halal slaughter

1. The animal slaughtered must be a halal animal as recognized in the halal regulations.

2. The slaughtering process must be performed by an adult Muslim who fully knows the halal regulations.

3. The animal must be alive before slaughter.

4. The animal must be completely slaughtered, using a metal and sharp knife.

5. Just before slaughter, one must recite in Arabic: Bismillahi Allahu Akbar.

6. Slaughtering the animal must cut its throat or the wide part of the esophagus and trachea, the two veins on the neck; this allows the blood to drain completely.

7. The slaughter must be completed with a single cut.

Halal regulations' requirements for halal production

1. The production line producing halal products is independent of the production lines for other products.

2. During the production process, avoid cross-contamination and prevent the mixing in of non-halal raw and auxiliary materials and other substances.

3. The raw materials of halal products and non-halal products in the warehouse must be stacked separately.

5. Halal finished products must also be stored separately.

Following the gist of the above halal regulations, Halal certification inspectors carry out Halal food certification for tens of thousands of foods worldwide. The inspectors responsible for certification are all composed of a team of experts in food science and strict adherence to halal regulations, ensuring that products produced by any factory in the world meet the standards of halal regulations, thereby meeting the health needs of nearly 1.9 billion halal food consumers worldwide.