What Is Halal Food?

Halal food is food made strictly according to Halal dietary principles. The following are the rules concerning Halal diet:

1. Forbidden foods.

According to Halal principles, Muslims are forbidden to eat carrion (animals that died of themselves), blood, pork, and animals slaughtered in a name other than that of Allah. Drinking alcohol, gambling, idol worship and divination are acts of the devil and should be avoided. So for a Muslim's diet, it is by no means as simple as just "not eating pork"; "drinking alcohol" is a greater taboo.

2. Animal foods can only be eaten after being slaughtered in the manner prescribed by Halal regulations.

The basic idea of "slaughtered in the name of Allah" is that the person slaughtering the livestock must be a Muslim, the livestock must be slaughtered after reciting "in the name of Allah," and the livestock must be alive - Muslims do not eat "animals that died naturally." When slaughtering, the throat is cut so the animal suffers less. The following are the requirements for slaughter:

1. The animal slaughtered must be a Halal animal recognized by Halal regulations.

2. The slaughter process must be carried out 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 sharp knife of metal material.

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

6. The slaughter must cut the throat, or the wide part of the esophagus and trachea, and the two veins on the neck, so that the blood can drain completely.

7. The slaughter must be completed in one stroke.

3. Regarding aquatic products.

According to Halal principles: animals and food from the sea are lawful and may be eaten. They do not need to be slaughtered in the manner described above.

4. Regarding food ingredients.

As Islamic scholars study Islamic teachings and the Quran, the ingredients for Halal food have also been more precisely defined. The world's largest Halal food certification body - Indonesia's authoritative certification body MUI (Majelis Ulama Indonesia) - has defined the following ingredients:

[Pork] Pigs and their by-products (including fat, fatty acids, hair, feathers, bones, enzymes, etc.) are considered non-Halal. Any processing of pork is forbidden (including the use of pig by-products as a medium in fermentation processing).

[Human body parts] All ingredients from the human body are non-Halal (e.g., cysteine from human hair).

[Alcohol] Any product that intoxicates 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 produced through fermentation containing less than 1% ethanol are not classified as alcoholic, but eating/drinking them is still non-Halal.

[Ethanol] Ethanol produced by the non-alcoholic industry is Halal (pure). For the alcoholic-beverage (alcohol) industry: 1. Fusel oil produced by the alcoholic-beverage industry is non-Halal; 2. Fusel oil produced by the non-alcoholic-beverage industry is Halal; 3. Any component physically separated by the alcoholic-beverage industry is classified as a non-Halal ingredient, such as fusel oil, isoamyl alcohol, brewer's yeast, tartaric acid; 4. If separated components are then chemically reacted to form a new component, the new product is Halal and pure - vinegar (so produced) is Halal and pure; 5. The yeast separated and cleaned from alcoholic beverages to form a new ingredient (with no alcohol smell, taste or color) is Halal and pure.

[Non-Halal artificial flavors] Products named with a non-Halal name and sensory profile (such as rum flavor, etc.) are classified as non-Halal, even if their ingredients come from artificial (Halal) raw materials.

[Microbial products] A microbial product is Halal when its medium components (from activation to production medium) do not come from non-Halal raw materials.

[Dedicated Halal workshop] The Halal production line must be separated from the non-Halal production line. Any equipment used to produce products containing pigs and their by-products may not be used on the Halal production line. The cleaning procedure for equipment previously used for pigs or their by-products: wash with water 7 times, one of which uses soil/sand or another cleaning medium.