Guidelines for production methods for halal food

Halal food and its production methods

Today, the majority of food products, from their very first stage of production, are manufactured using industrial methods. For this reason, the corresponding sector is now also called the food industry . To ensure the continuous availability of numerous food products, these are produced in large quantities in factories. Furthermore, numerous product lines are manufactured in the same factory, either simultaneously or sequentially. This affects the manufactured products and manifests itself, for example, in the information "May contain traces of nuts" on food packaging, even though the desired product does not contain any nuts. The key term here is cross-contamination. This refers to the unwanted transfer of contaminants to objects, items, or similar items. In the case of food, this could be, for example, the contamination of halal gummy candies with pork gelatin .

Production methods: Animal cruelty is prohibited in halal food products.

Not only the selection of the animal species, species-appropriate husbandry, humane treatment, and gentle, pain- and stress-free slaughter are criteria for classifying a product as permissible (halal); numerous factors must also be considered during the processing of the raw materials. For example, it is of little use if all the rules are followed up to the slaughter of a cow, but cross-contamination with pork fat occurs during the subsequent processing of the raw product. To avoid such errors, various certification bodies have established guidelines for industrial production processes. While these guidelines are based on the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), they must be constantly updated and reviewed based on current processing techniques and individual circumstances.

Guidelines for the production of halal food

If a permitted animal species has been selected for the production of a product and slaughtered according to Islamic guidelines, then care should be taken during processing to ensure that...

• The production line for halal products must be separated from other production lines, or at least parts of the relevant factory must be separated.
• All machines are cleaned and dry, and employees of the halal production line have no contact with non-halal food.
• Halal meat is never contaminated at any point, from slaughter to transport, storage and processing, through contact with pork or other non-halal foods.
• All additives comply with halal guidelines.
• The packaging process also prevents cross-contamination with non-permitted (haram) products. [1]

A complete list of all aspects sounds very abstract. How does this affect day-to-day production? Which products are affected?

Haribo sweets without pork gelatin, for example.

Fruit gummies are a suitable example of the criteria listed above. While some producers have completely switched their product lines to vegetarian or vegan raw materials, others specifically offer separate [products/services]. halal products here. While, for example, classic Haribo gummy candies, some of which contain pork gelatin that is not suitable for halal classification, are produced exclusively in a separate factory in Turkey. Halal products are manufactured in this special plant. Halal Haribo sweets without pork gelatin Manufactured in such a way that the risk of halal and non-halal sweets coming into contact is eliminated. Thus, no cross-contamination is permitted. For the halal production Only certified halal raw materials are used.

These considerations can also be applied to fast food. Many large fast-food chains offer vegetarian or even vegan products that could, in principle, be consumed by Muslims. The important thing is whether the employees changed their gloves before preparing a sandwich or burger, used contamination-free knives or grills, and stored the respective food items separately. If these aspects are not observed, the corresponding offerings can be classified as non-halal (haram).

^1. Paraphrased from http://www.eurohalal.eu/index.php/halal-richtlinien.html