By Yvonne Maffei

Jan/Feb 2024

For a halal foodie, there’s nothing more disappointing than scanning through a beautifully photographed cookbook or recipe site only to realize that some of the ingredients listed are not halal. Bacon or pancetta listed in the initial “flavoring” process? Not gonna work. Too bad, because you really wanted to make something new for your family but are afraid the recipe won’t turn out if you skip those ingredients. 

How about those scrumptious-looking beef tacos at the Mexican food truck outside your office? You’re leery about whether there’s pork cooked on the same grill or lard in the beans. You could inquire, but maybe you’re shy or just too hungry to ask. So, you opt for the same old thing, which is fine but not as exciting as you’d like. You want to taste the world! 

What can one do in such cases? The good news is that any dish can be made halal. Let me show you how. 

Substitutes for Pork

Recipes that call for pancetta or bacon are typically used to add a rich flavor to the dish. The pork meat gives off a lot of fat and transcends the entire dish with its distinct flavoring. Lean meats just can’t do that, which is why pork is so commonly used in some cuisines. But we can achieve the same result in a very halal way.

There are so many delicious healthy halal substitutes that can be used instead of pork. And, by the way — don’t be afraid of the fat. If the animal has been fed and raised well, this fat is considered a “good fat” and an essential ingredient in making some of the most delicious dishes you’ll ever eat. It’s also great for your skin (all that collagen and such). Here are some options:

• Beef tallow. This is very hard to find, especially in halal markets, but it’s also quite easy to make yourself. Buy meat cut into large cubes on which you can clearly see the fat and render or melt it yourself. Simply sauté the meat in a pan (without any oil) on low-medium heat and let the fat melt. Remove the muscle meat and pour the melted fat into a stainless steel or oven-safe glass dish. You want to pour it into a container that can also be put in the freezer. Let it cool and harden, then refrigerate (up to 1-2 weeks) or freeze (1 month) it. When you’re ready to use it, simply add it to your sauté pan and use it like you would any other oil. This is especially good when you have a dish that you want to impart a beef flavor to but don’t have the actual muscle meat on hand. 

• Lamb or Beef “Bacon.” This is not the easiest to find, but some halal stores carry it in the frozen meat section. It’s especially nice to add to poultry dishes to “fatten” a lean bird when making a roasted chicken or a beef pot roast, as they simply don’t have a lot of fat. Layer the slices of “bacon” on top when roasting, and it will drip down onto the meat, giving it a lovely flavor. This is a classic French way of adding flavor to lean meats. Alternatively, dice the “bacon” into small pieces and use in lieu of “pancetta” in a recipe for making the sofrito, or the base flavoring. This is a classically northern Italian way of cooking, which adds flavor to many soups and stews. 

• Duck Fat. This is one of my favorite types of fats to cook with. But a halal version is also incredibly hard to find. If you are fortunate enough to find halal duck, roast the whole bird in the oven. It won’t require any oil as long as it has skin, but you’ll end up with that rendered fat similar to beef tallow because its fat melts when cooking. Save it, allow it to cool and refrigerate or freeze it just like the beef tallow. I love to use duck fat when making roasted or sauteed potatoes — the flavor is incredible and rich. Use it just as you would any other oil when cooking. 

• Chicken Fat. This may be the easiest one to get your hands on in a halal market. I suggest that you buy it if you find it, because it’s much harder to collect quite a bit of chicken fat unless you make your own stock from the carcass and/or the feet — and even then you usually can’t get very much from just one chicken. Once you’ve made the broth, allow it to cool and scoop out the hardened fat on top. Save and refrigerate or freeze. 

All of these suggestions, combined with making your own broth from bones, will give your dishes high-end restaurant-quality flavor at home without having to worry about all of the issues of non-halal meat in your food. 

Substitutes for Alcohol

Another pain point for those who follow a halal diet or who simply want to avoid alcohol altogether is that there are ways around all of the alcohol found in both savory and sweet dishes, whether in restaurants or packaged foods. 

Let me start by saying that no, alcohol does not burn off in cooking, at least not completely –– a fact proven by scientists. “Depending on the cooking method and how much alcohol is used, anywhere from 4 to 85 percent of the alcohol may remain,” writes Tara Parker-Pope (“Is it true that alcohol burns off during cooking?” The Washington Post, Nov. 10, 2023). You can see a chart in the “My Halal Kitchen” cookbook with the percentage of alcohol cooked off per amount used — and it never goes to zero. With this knowledge, I don’t feel comfortable consuming a dish that was cooked with alcohol even if a chef tells me it has burned off completely. 

My rule of thumb is to find a substitute with the same flavor base as the original dish. For example, a dish that calls for red wine gets a high-quality grape juice (not from concentrate) as a substitute, using close to or just a little less than the amount of wine used in the original recipe. If a recipe includes white wine, get a white grape juice substitute. I’ve seen many recipes suggest substituting vinegar, or chicken or beef broth, for the wine or simply using water instead, but I don’t think doing so will make the dish as fabulous as if you use the halal juices. 

For things like almond, orange, citrus and other flavor extracts, I use bakery emulsion as a substitute. For vanilla extract, I use the real bean, no-alcohol vanilla extract or vanilla powder. 

Things You May Think Are Halal, But Might Not Be

• Tiramisu. This classic Sicilian dessert is fantastic and literally “picks you up” as the name suggests, due to the inclusion of espresso coffee. The thing is that sometimes rum or brandy is added to the dish. Use alcohol-free vanilla extract, vanilla powder or fresh vanilla beans instead. Additionally, some store-bought tiramisu products contain gelatin in order to create a gel-like uniform shape, and that gelatin may be derived from pork or non-zabiha animals. Make it at home and you don’t even need the gelatin at all. Get my version of the super quick tiramisu recipe here: https://myhalalkitchen.com/classic-tiramisu/.

• Bread. I’m a huge advocate of cooking from scratch because I’m a huge believer in self-reliance and survival skills — and bread-making is one of them. I do understand, however, that for most people it’s not practical to make bread every couple of days. The problem with store-bought bread is that it contains so many unnecessary ingredients. Bread only really needs flour, water, salt, yeast and, in my case, olive oil. The average store-bought bread is also made with some sketchy ingredients like GMO wheat, and more often than not, something called a “dough conditioner.” 

When made commercially, dough conditioners can be made up of chemicals and other agents, one of which can be derived from duck feathers or human hair (L-cysteine). Not very savory, and not very halal. This is why I’m incredibly careful and protective of the source of my bread and have altogether started making more and more of my own, just to be safe. You can find my super easy country bread recipe in the “My Halal Kitchen” cookbook. 

Recommendations 

I recommend that everyone stock up on the things that help you keep a halal kitchen and make cooking so much easier for you to do regularly. A few of my favorite items are the following:

• Agar Agar. Used for making homemade-flavored gelatins and thickening soups. 

• Vanilla Powder. Most Middle Eastern and Mediterranean markets carry this in their baking sections. 

• No-Alcohol Vanilla Extract. The one I use the most is found at Trader Joe’s, but you can also go online and search for several brands. 

• Not-from Concentrate Grape or White Grape Juices. You’ll need these if you’re making traditional French or Italian cuisine. I prefer to get the small juice boxes, so you don’t end up wasting a whole gallon of juice or drop the leftover juice into ice cube trays and freeze. This makes it easier to pop them into dishes as needed, too. 

Yvonne Maffei, MA, is a food and travel writer, independent researcher, cookbook author and entrepreneur. She is the founder of the first website on halal food and cooking, MyHalalKitchen.com, which seeks to make global cuisine halal and spread the concept of culinary diplomacy as a means of bringing everyone to the table. Her cookbooks include “My Halal Kitchen” (2016) and “Summer Ramadan Cooking” (2013). Maffei divides her time between the U.S. and Canada — and anywhere else she can travel around the world.

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By Mohammad Abdullah

Jan/Feb 2024

While most young Muslims know that halal foods are a good thing, not all understand the Islamic concept of halal.

According to a June 6, 2023, Kerry Group report, “global product launches with halal claims jumped by 19% from 2018 to 2020, from 16,936 products to 20,482. The report stated that developments in the halal food industry and a large fast-growing young Muslim population across Muslim-majority countries, who are looking for products aligned with the Islamic way of life, are playing a part in the increased product launches.”

Other media reports have said more or less the same thing. For example, in 2016, The Jakarta Post noted that, “The young Muslim population is undoubtedly a potential market for food producers. Young Muslims are cool, tech-savvy, confident, creative, dynamic, energetic, and proud of their identity as Muslim. They believe their faith is helping them in making the world better. One of the ways is through consumption of products that they feel will help them to live a better, modern, Muslim life.” Obviously, it includes “Sunna foods” that Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) used to treat diseases or recommended for maintaining overall good health. 

What is Sunna? 

The Islamic concept of halal includes the limits set upon our lives by God. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines Sunna as the body of Muslims’ traditional socio-legal customs and practices that contains many blessings and much wisdom, especially in terms of health. The prophetic Sunna teaches us that “The son of Adam [and Eve] does not fill any vessel worse than the stomach. It is sufficient for him to eat a few mouthfuls, to keep going. If he must do that, then let him fill one third [of his stomach] with food, one third with drink. and one third with air” (al-Tirmidhi, 2006). 

A great deal of this advice and nutritional habits have substantial support in scientific literature, such as eating whole foods. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Oct. 14, 2021) found that ultra-processed food consumption grew from 53.5% of calories in the beginning of the period studied (2001-02) to 57% at the end of (2017-18). In contrast, the consumption of whole foods decreased from 32.7% to 27.4% of calories. 

In the current industrial food environment, most foods marketed in the U.S. are industrial formulations that cannot be considered whole foods. Given this growing intake of ultra-processed foods and mounting evidence of their linkage to chronic diseases, the researchers recommend implementing policies to reduce their consumption, such as revised dietary guidelines, marketing restrictions, package labeling changes, and taxes on soda and other ultra-processed foods.

Sunna Foods

The Quran and the Prophet have highlighted some foods, such as dates (16:69), olives (23:20 and 24:35), figs, pomegranates, grapes, olives, honey, and black seeds. “Use black seeds regularly, because it is a cure for every disease except death” (al-Bukhari, 2002). 

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), prophetic recommendations are remarkable for their prescience, as they came centuries before research was conducted on healthy diets and their bodily benefits. According to researchers, these foods have an abundance of super-concentrated and nutrient-rich elements in their natural state that work together. The Prophet’s recommended foods have now become today’s superfoods due to their powerful healing properties. However, these benefits can only be achieved by following his advice in this regard. It isn’t enough to consume food with a “Halal” logo unless his advice is truly followed and the desire for junk food is controlled. Halal certification also has its challenges. Diseases like diabetes metabolic syndrome and dementia due to excessive consumption of food, especially fast food. 

Increase in Sunna Product Launches

The demand for halal products comes from Muslim consumers, numbering 1.9 billion in 2020, one of the world’s fast-growing consumer segments. Halal food is the second largest sector after Islamic finance. The global halal meat market, valued at $802 billion in 2021, is estimated to reach $1.66 trillion by 2030 (according to Straits Research report on July 16, 2020).

In a bid to tap into this vast market, the industry started producing foods, snacks, and supplements containing black seeds, honey, pomegranates, and other ingredients and marketing them as Sunna foods. Snacks and supplements are found in many forms, such as pills, tablets, capsules, gummies, soft gels, liquids, and powders. While the primary contents of vitamins and supplements are the vitamins and the minerals themselves, other ingredients help bind the products together or preserve them, such as gelatin from both halal and non-halal sources.

Producers promote these products via innovative marketing techniques and using proofs derived from the Quran and Hadith. The updated Nutrition Facts Label on packaged foods, which was updated in 2016 to reflect scientific information about the link between diet and obesity, heart disease and chronic diseases makes better food choices easier. 

Making Informed Decisions

During the Prophet’s time, halal and haram applied mainly to meat, because food was generally natural: no chemical additives, but vegetable oils or olive oil, unrefined grains, and grass-fed animals. Today, most commercial food is exposed to chemicals and pesticides. Commercial genetically modified (GM) crops and products are common in processed foods, which also contain coloring agents, preservatives, flavors, and synthetic nutrients, refined sugars, and synthetic sweeteners. Commercially raised animals are generally fed GM corn diets and antibiotics to prevent sickness. And now meat is even being grown in the laboratory.

Muslims are to consume only food deemed halal (16:114). However, today food production companies hire a Muslim-owned halal certification organization to get their products certified. Among other things, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has been accused of intervening to help North Jersey businessman Wael Hana’s IS EG Halal — established in November 2017 with no prior experience in halal certification or pre-existing ties to the American beef industry — win an exclusive multimillion dollar contract to certify whether food exports to Egypt met halal food standards or not (Michigan Advance, Oct. 12, 2023). Certification fees range from $200 to over $5,000 per container (30 tons). 

A well-policed certification authority is also required. In 2014, Iowa’s Cedar Rapids-based Midamar Corp. exported at least $4.9 million in beef products to Malaysia, Kuwait, the UAE and elsewhere. The company’s president was later jailed for not following the halal practices promised in its labeling and advertising.

Beyond the Halal Label

As consumers find little more than the “Halal” logo on the product’s label, the OIC recently published, in the aftermath of its 5-year strategic plan’s (2016-20) failure, its 10-year plan for uniform standardization and accreditation. 

To protect consumers, in 2019 Indonesia introduced the Halal Product Law, which states that all consumer products and related services must be halal certified to meet market needs and consumer trust. Similarly, in Malaysia, food, goods or services can be labeled halal only if Jakim, the regulatory body, certifies them as such. Malaysian laws adopted the concept of halalan thoyyiban, which is supposed to provide adequate protection. However, the rampant manipulation of halal laws reflects the weaknesses in the laws’ implementation (https://food.chemlinked.com/foodpedia). 

On Sept. 18, Amy Fleming stated in The Guardian that most pork products, such as bacon, are made with nitrates that WHO has rated as carcinogenic since 2015. These additives are also used in sausages and other products, some of which are halal certified. Cooking and eating such meats cause carcinogenic compounds such as nitrosamine to form. The protein myoglobin, found in meat, naturally turns red and then brown as it oxidizes. These additives both stop this from happening and give meat a pink color and fresh look.  

Today, numerous simple- and nutritious-looking products with attractive packaging, among them halal-certified gelatin, jellies, ice cream, yogurts, cheeses, deli meats, snacks and supplements — compete for consumers’ attention, boasting convenience, taste and environmental friendliness. Yet behind all of this may lie a list of unhealthy ingredients, such as saturated fats, cholesterol, sodium, artificial stabilizers and additives.

A recent study published by “The PLOS ONE” reported that: (1) halal certification organizations use different halal standards, which makes it hard to determine which standards are being applied; (2) many halal foods and ingredients are produced in non-Muslim-majority countries, which possibly increases the likelihood of being contaminated by pig-derived common ingredients (e.g., gelatin, enzymes, glycerin, lecithin, L-cystine, and mono- and diacylglycerols) due to the non-awareness of their haram status; and (3) harmonizing the OIC’s countries’ halal standards is important to ensuring the smooth implementation of uniform halal standards. 

This harmonization is needed, for it is in all the stakeholders’ best interests (“Harmonize Halal Certification Regulations,” Islamic Horizons, Jan./Feb. 2022). Young Muslims’ interest in Sunna foods is commendable. Many of them are tech-savvy, confident, and creative. We look forward to their expediting the OIC’s development of uniform halal food standards.

Mohammad Abdullah, who retired after serving 29 years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the agency that regulates the meat industry, is the author of “A Closer Look at Halal Meat from Farm to Fork” (2016).

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By Muhammad Abdullah

July/August 2023

Did you know “homemade” sandwiches, “organic” granolas, and “plant-based” milk has up to 40 ingredients? An April 2023 report in the U.K. Daily Mail states “ultra-processed” foods make up more than 70% of the U.S. food supply. A national survey suggests that 1 in 8 U.S. adults are addicted to these foods. America’s obsession with ultra-processed foods, some of which have up to 100 ingredients, have been linked to heart disease, dementia, and cancer. They could be fueling a growing wave of chronic diseases. 

Ultra-Processed Foods are Cheap and Delicious

Ultra-processed foods are higher in salt, sugar, and fat, and contain ingredients you would not add when cooking at home (such as coloring, sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, hydrolyzed proteins, hydrogenated oils, and monosodium glutamate etc.). Common examples of ultra-processed food include sugary beverages; chips and cookies, fast food, reconstituted meat products such as hot dogs and fish sticks, pizza and TV dinners, energy and protein bars and shakes, ice cream, sweetened yogurt, and plant-based milks. 

The American Medical Association states that ultra-processed foods are industrial creations made with little — if any — whole foods that often contain large amounts of added sugars and salt and infused with artificial colors and additives. They are cheap, convenient, and tasty.

The use of additives has become more common these days due to the increase in demand for processed products at an affordable price. In meat processing, certain animal tissues such as meat trimmings, bone scraps, or certain internal organs such as intestines, which are usually not sold in fresh meat marketing, are integrated into the food chain as valuable protein-rich ingredients. Animal gelatin that acts as a cohesive agent to meat mixes is used to make the cooked products solid, elastic, and easy to slice. Added water containing phosphates and dextrose is used to make the meat more succulent.

According to CBS News, there are more than 10,000 chemicals and additives allowed in food in the U.S., often in small amounts. But many haven’t been evaluated by the FDA in decades. What we consume becomes a part of the body, and can affect us physically as well as spiritually. 

The Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) advised: “The son of Adam does not fill any vessel worse than his stomach. It is enough for the son of Adam to eat a few mouthfuls to straighten his back, but if he must (fill his stomach), then one third for his food, one third for his drink, and one third for his breath.” (reported Al-Miqdām ibn Ma‘di Karib; Ibn Maajah).

The two common factors leading people to consume higher amounts of ultra-processed foods are cost, and a lack of making healthy choices. A Huffington Post survey shows that people living in full-service grocery store areas where healthy nutritious foods were available still chose unhealthy foods. The convenience of ordering online is yet another factor.

To make it easier to understand, researchers have separated foods into four categories, based on the extent of processing, using the NOVA classification system. NOVA was designed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies in Health and Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. 

NOVA Group 1 consists of such foods as fresh vegetables, fruits, pasteurized milk, chicken, fish, beans, and eggs because these go through no or minimal processing before you buy them. In contrast, NOVA Group 4 (ultra-processed), contains little, if any, of the foods or ingredients from group 1, and often include unhealthy levels of added sugars, sodium, and fat. These ingredients make the food taste better, but too much of them leads to serious health issues like obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. 

How to Read Labels

The first thing about avoiding ultra-processed foods is to have some knowledge about reading the ingredient list. The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA), requires all prepackaged products with more than one ingredient to list ingredients in descending order by weight. In this way the first ingredient listed is always present in the largest amount and can be useful when comparing products.

Experts advise avoiding products with more than five ingredients and cooking from scratch at home as often as possible. When people eat sweet foods, high in caloric value, pleasure hormones like dopamine are released in their brains and they feel better. 

The nutrition label shows key nutrients that may impact your health. For example, Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a painful gastrointestinal-tract disease linked with consumption of diets with higher amounts of sugar and fat. Celiac, an autoimmune disease, damages the small intestine whenever gluten is consumed. Consumers should use these labels to meet their personal dietary needs.

The size of the ingredient list is a key as to whether the food is ultra-processed or not. For instance, corn is minimally processed. Canned corn is processed, and a corn chip is ultra-processed. Ditto for an apple, apple juice, and apple pie. Milk, reduced fat milk, and unsweetened almond milk.  

Eating Healthy and Tayyab Foods

Verse 7:157 of the Qur’an, states that for us to consume a thing it must not only be halal, but also be tayyab (pure). In this verse, tayyab is contrasted against the Arabic word “Al-Khaba’ith”, which is translated as “evil.” This could mean anything not tayyab is impure, disgusting and harmful. Islam emphasizes food safety and frequently associates halal with tayyab. 

“O ye who believe! Eat of the clean and pure that We have provided for you, and be grateful to Allah, if it is Him ye worship” (Quran 2: 172). 

The “USDA Inspected & Passed” stamp on commercially produced meat and poultry products serves to put the consumers at ease that these products are safe, wholesome, properly labeled and are produced in a sanitary environment. The first thing the USDA inspectors do in a plant is perform a sanitation inspection. In case of halal meat, each animal carcass receives the halal logo after the animal has received the “USDA Inspected & Passed” stamp. 

USDA also provides grading services. There are eight grades for beef, based on the age of the animal and its marbling — prime, choice, select, standard, commercial, utility, cutter, and canner. Prime being the highest quality and canner the lowest. Chicken may similarly be marked as Grade A, B, or C. Meat inspection and meat grading are two different things. Meat inspection is performed to determine the meat’s fitness for human consumption and this service is paid for by the government. Whereas, the grading is about the quality and yield of meat, and the plants pay the USDA for this service. For this reason, not all meats are graded.

The USDA does not get involved in “Halal” meat certification. Instead, the plant contracts services to a halal certification organization. Thus, it becomes the certification organization’s responsibility whose “Halal” stamp is on the product.

The global meat industry is very complex. All animal raw edible parts are sourced from slaughter and processing plants around the world and are used to produce different types of processed products. It provides many opportunities to engage in substitution, mislabeling, and other types of food fraud. For example, a researcher at the University of Guelph (Ontario) found mislabeling and cross contamination in 20% of sausage samples.

Caution with Some Labels

Food labels are supposed to allow consumers to make more informed decisions by knowing the quality or standards in the production of meat. However, some labels can be vague and confusing. For example, claims that a brand of chicken has no steroids or hormones can give the impression to a consumer that it is because of this company’s special efforts. The fact is that steroids and hormones are not allowed in any U.S. poultry or hog production. 

“Chemical Free” is another term that is disallowed to be used on a label. The reason could be that some chemicals are naturally occurring and there is no way to assure that products are free of any chemical substance. “Humanely raised” or “sustainably farmed” is, yet another such term for which there are no regulatory standards. However, some labels do tell how the animal was raised, what it ate, if any chemicals were added to its feed, etc. and can be helpful towards healthy and tayyab eating.

“Naturally Raised” labels indicate that no growth hormones, no antibiotics, and no animal by-products were fed. “Grass Fed” label indicates that only grass and forage was fed for the lifetime of the animal. The only exception is the milk consumed prior to the animal’s weaning. “USDA Organic” label indicates that the animals were fed an organic grain or forage diet, no animal by-products, no use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, products were kept separate from non-organic products, and documentation was maintained for traceability. 

Conventional meat, with the above labels, have been in the supermarket for decades but not the halal meat. It is unclear why. Consumers expect the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to do something in this matter. OIC recently published its 10-year plan that aims for uniformity in standardization and accreditation activities, after its 5-year strategic plan (2016-2020) could not succeed. Hopefully, OIC should be able to resolve this issue while it continues with its 10-year plan. 

The above-mentioned labels may have some deficiencies and need better enforcement (How Organic is “Organic” Food – Islamic Horizons – Nov/Dec 2022). However, they are defined by USDA and other government agencies, and based on what these labels claim, this is the closest one can get to healthy (nutrient-dense) and tayyab foods.

Dr. Mohammad Abdullah retired after serving 29 years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the agency that regulates the meat industry. He is also the author of “A Closer Look at Halal Meat from Farm to Fork” (2016)

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