[This article is in response to Ender Kirküc 's question in the Halalcheck Facebook group on 04/30/2021. The question can be found at the following link: https: //www.facebook.com/groups/helalgermany.gruppe/permalink/4176182639066949]
Aleyküm Selam Ender Kirküc,
I founded the Halal Online Shop during the refugee debate in March 2016 because I wanted to offer help to refugees or refugee homes. This was meant as a small side project besides my work and has now developed into a small business.
The aim of this company is to enable Muslim families to buy sweets for their children without any worries.
Regarding the gelatin, most manufacturers of halal certified fruit gum use either beef gelatin from Brazil or Turkey. These are the two countries where halal certified gelatin is most commonly produced and used by manufacturers. We have decided to offer only sweets that contain the bovine gelatin from Turkey. The company that produces the beef gelatin is named Halavet Gıda and is located in Istanbul. We locate candy manufacturers worldwide who are halal certified and source the gelatin from Turkey from this company. This gelatin is certified by Türk Standardları Enstitüsü (TSE): https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0004/0370/1801/files/Sweetzone_TSE_HALAL_Zertifikat.PDF?v=1600862091 Because all of our candies use this gelatin, you will find this certificate most prominently on the site.
In addition, we only list sweets that do not contain carmine (E number 120). This is often used as a red colorant in fruit gums.
Another point we pay attention to is that the sweets do not have ethanol as a carrier in the flavors. This does not have to be explicitly stated by the manufacturer in the list of ingredients and must therefore be requested separately from the manufacturer. We therefore do not list "normal" vegan sweets, but only those that are halal certified and do not contain ethanol.
I have not seen shellac (E904) in any ingredient list so far. If it were to appear, this would also be a criterion for exclusion.
Currently we list in the store sweets from the brands Sweetzone, Haribo and Miralina's Halal Sweets.
Regardless of the gelatin, the manufacturing process and factory/production facility must also be halal certified. These separate halal certificates can be found with each product under the product images:
- Haribo Halal is certified by the European Halal Certification Institute (EHZ): https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0004/0370/1801/products/haribo-halal-gummibarchenharibo-halal-gummibarchen-goldbaren-100gharibo8691216020771-218489.jpg?v=1606082136
- Sweetzone is certified by Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC): https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0004/0370/1801/products/halal-sussigkeiten-balla-stixx-apfel-sweetzone-11kg-175027.jpg?v=1620100437
- Miralina's Halal Sweets is certified by Halal Quality Control (HQC): https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0004/0370/1801/files/H.C10310300313-Miralina_s_Halal_Sweets-Annex1-2021-Ver.1.pdf?v=1617717853
As of September 2021, we will only list Miralina's Halal Sweets and Haribo Halal brands.
I hope I could answer your questions.
Selam
Tayfun
