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Encapsulated Food Ingredients And Their Halal Status
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Pharmaceutical industry is using encapsulation of bitter antibiotic medicine since long time. The use of encapsulation of food ingredients is on the rise in the food industry. The use of encapsulation in food industry is to protect the ingredient for controlling the delivery of maximum flavor in the finished product, physical appearance of the product such as baked product where loss of height of cinnamon or raisin bread due to adverse effect of the cinnamon and acid leaching from raisin on yeast activity.
The loss of flavor intensity due to heat of the processing and much other processing issue. Beside encapsulation, there other new process of protecting the ingredients during processing is on rise such as micro fluidization is a unique technique of combining high pressure homogenization and heat denaturization, Liposomes which is a lipid (fat) cavity, Coacervation where two liquids mixed together through colloid, milk fat coated microcapsule, use of matrix material for coating, lecithin vesicles, timely release capsules, fluid bed, spray drying and use of modified food starch for coating and many more techniques.
The material used for capsulation is gelatin, gum Arabic, cellulose gum and other colloidal material.
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| There are four things to be look for the Halal status of the encapsulated ingredients such as:
- Halal status of ingredient itself
- Halal status of Bulking or Carrier material
- Halal status of Encapsulation, Liposome, coacervation, matrix materials
- Halal or Kosher certification of encapsulated or coated ingredients
The Gum Arabic, Cellulose gum, Modified Food starch and pure milk fat are Halal materials for capsulation and coating.
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Possibility of Halal Prducts Become Haram
If a product is made with only Halal ingredients without Halal or kosher certification and one of the ingredient is encapsulated with pork gelatin then the product becomes Haram because gelatin in the encapsulating material will not appear on the ingredient list because it is a processing aid ingredient. So we have to be careful about it and inquire with the food manufacturer if they are using any encapsulated ingredients in their products. The best protection is to consume the Halal certified or kosher certified (if the kosher certification meets the Islamic dietary requirements because not all kosher certified products are Halal) food products.
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Area Creat Of Tartar And Tartaric Acid Halal?
Tartaric Acid is an acidulant that occurs naturally in grapes. It is used in grape and lime flavored beverages and grape flavored jellies. It is used as an acidulant in baking powder.
Cream of Tatar is the acid potassium salt of Tartaric acid. It is used as a chemical leavening to release carbon dioxide, which produces loaf volume in bake products.
Tartaric acid and Cream of Tartar in USA is made from unfermented crushed grapes according to Tartaric Acid manufacturer. So both are Halal since it is made from unfermented crushed grape.
But in other countries like South Africa the tartaric acid is made from the deposits left over on wooden barrels after wine making. These deposits are washed before making the tartaric acid. In that case Halal status of Tartaric acid is questionable and has to be decided by the Islamic scholars.
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Turmeric As An Ingredient In Food Products Are Not Always Halal
Turmeric is used as a coloring ingredient in many food products but it is not available in 100% pure Turmeric to food manufacturer. Other ingredients are added as processing aid or hidden ingredients to help dissolve or disperse in a food product. The 1.5% Warner Jenkinson's Turmeric Powder is composed of cellulose(Halal), Propylene Glycol(Halal), Turmeric(Halal), Polysorbate 80( an emulsifier which could be from pig fat or beef fat or vegetable fat) and Silica(Halal). Warner Jenkinson's Turmeric is a Kosher certified powder. The Polysorbate 80 is from vegetable fat. But it is possible that other supplier may not use the vegetable fat based emulsifier. If you find Turmeric under ingredients list of a food product, do not buy the product unless it has a Halal or Kosher symbol on the package. |
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Colored Cherries Are Not Always Halal
The cherries are artificially colored and also it is colored with carmine (carmine color is obtained from insects/beetles and this color is not considered Halal). If the cherries are colored with artificial FD&C then there is a chance FD&C might contain pork glycerin as a solvent. So colored cherries have to be Halal or Kosher certified. Colored cherries are added in fruit cocktails. If the fruit cocktail can does not have a Halal or Kosher symbol, then the fruit cocktail containing colored cherries is not Halal. So always look for Halal or Kosher symbol in a product containing colored cherries. |
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Food Colors Such As Yellow No.5 Or Red No.40
Food colorants which act as food additives are either Natural or synthetic derived. FDA categories the colorants in use as GRAS (Generally Recognized AS Safe).
Natural Colorants:
- Annatto
- Antocyanins
- Beet root juice and betanin
- Beta-carotene (Halal only if Fish gelatin or Zabiha gelatin or Vegetable oil is used as a carrier)
- Canthaxanthin
- Caramel
- Cochineal and carminic acid (They are not considered as Halal because all insects are Haram according to Imam Abu Hanifa)
- Paprika powder and paprika oleoresin
- Turmeric and turmeric oleoresin
They are Halal only if used in pure powder or granules forms. They are not Halal if they are extracted with ethyl alcohol. Please call the manufacturer to confirm that no alcohol is used as a extracting solvent.
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Synthetic Colors
Synthetic Colorants are FD&C (Food and Cosmetic) Dyes and Aluminum Lakes which are available in powder, granular and liquid forms.
A dye is a pure chemical which exhibits coloring power when it dissolved in only water because it will not mix with oil. So pure dye color as a powder or granule or dissolved only in water is Halal.
A Lake pigment is an insoluble chemical which colors by dispersion.
All the synthetic colorants are certified by FDA and FDA allows only the following solvents for dispersion and carrying agents:
- Glycerin (Haram, if it is from pork fat)
- Propylene Glycol (Halal)
- Dextrose (Halal)
- Sucrose (Halal)
- Vegetable Oil (Halal)
- Water (Halal)
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How to Find Halal Status Of Synthetic Colors
There are three ways to find the Halal status of synthetic color such as yellow no. 5 in a food product.
- The manufacturer of the food products containing synthetic colors are only one who know in what form the synthetic colors are added to a food product. We do not recommend this approach if the said food product is not under Halal/Kosher certification because the manufacturer can change the form of color from powder to liquid.
- If the product is Halal certified with Halal symbol such as "H" under Triangle. This symbol indicates only Halal carriers are used in a liquid color which is added to the said food product.
- If a kosher symbol such as U or UD, Circler K, Triangle K, CRC, COR, V, kuf K appears on the food product containing FD&C Yellow No. 5 or FD & C Red NO. 40 or any synthetic color. This kosher symbol on the package indicates no pork glycerin was used as carrier in the synthetic colors.
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