Nowadays, food safety and quality have become critical issues of great concern throughout the world. The issue of Halal food particularly has attracted public attention in Malaysia. Muslim consumers should be sure about the food quality in Halal Food Products starting from the ingredients. The confidence can be gained when the whole processes from the production, processing and distribution of the products are traced and confirmed to be Shariah-compliant ones. One of the current important issues nowadays which set as a background of this research is feeding animals with unclean food or unnatural feed to the animals. According to Islamic Jurisprudence, these animals are termed as al-Jallalah or contaminated animals, they are called Coprophagia or Coprophagy. ‘Jalla’ means contaminant or impurity. There are several issues of aquatic animals which need a clear clarification on their status whether they are Halal or haram to be consumed. For example, catfish (Clariasbatrachus, Linnaeus), which is fed with filth or najs and catfish (Pangasiushypopthalmus) which is fed with derivatives of pig organs in several ponds at Batu Gajah, Tronoh and Papan, Perak. The mixture in animals feed with such impurities is applied to save the maintenance and fasten the growing of fish. This research aims to identify the concept of al-Jallalah and its characteristics. It also aims to develop the standard of the contaminated animals (al-Jallalah) and to create new mobile application on this issue for the future development of meat and poultry industry. This study helps to enhance the quality of meat and poultry, to provide consumers with informative choices and it can be used as a marketing tool for the Halal Industry in the future.
Vinegar is very popular as traditional ingredient for cooking, pickling, and preservation. It is made from sugar or starch by an alcoholic and acetous fermentation and produces ethanol as a by-product. Alcohol is prohibited to be consumed for Muslim or used as ingredient if it is exceeding the allowable limit as stated by Islamic Council in Malaysia. According to Fatwa Committee National Council of Islamic Religious Affairs Malaysia, natural occurrences of ethanol in food products are acceptable if the ethanol contents are less than 1% in beverages and 0.5% for flavoring or coloring substances for the purpose of stabilization. On the other hand, for specific vinegar product, as stated by Malaysian Food Act and Regulation, acetic acid content must be at least 4%. According to FAO/WHO, a product is to be labelled as vinegar if the acetic acid content is 6% and with a maximum residual alcohol content of 0.5%v/v for wine vinegar and 1%v/v for other vinegars. This study investigated the physiochemical properties of the vinegar from different sources of raw materials. Total solubility (TA) by using Brix method, pH, and alcohol and acetic acid content by GC-TOF/MS of 12 commercial vinegars from Malaysia and abroad were studied. The result shown that for pH value of commercial vinegar are ranged from 2.51-3.14°Brix from 2.10-40.73°Brix, acetic acid is ranged from 0.0253-0.1276% and ethanol content from 0-0.5911%. Thus, this study will come out with the clear observation on ethanol content in fermented product which is vinegar in order to categories the halalness of the product that available in Malaysia market especially the ones that are produced internationally. Lastly, as shown by the profiling study, vinegar that are imported internationally may contain some amount of alcohol in contrast with the one that locally produced in Malaysia and has Halal certification.
The halal food production industry is gaining greater attention among Muslim and non-Muslim
majority countries, particularly due to the increase of global market demand. One of the critical
areas in issuing halal certified food is the determination of allowable alcohol content in food
and drinks. The level of alcohol content has not standardized in several standards and fatwa of
Islamic scholars. In Islam, the alcohol in several fruit products is produced through fermentation
process such as takhammur (wine making) and takhallul (vinegar making). The fermentation
process gives an impact to the status of the food products either permissible or prohibited.
Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss on the determination of permissible alcohol
and vinegar by fermentation process content in selected food products from Shariah and science
perspectives. In doing so, the views of authentic of Islamic Law in this issue are supported by
lab work approached. As a result, in the first phase there are three types of by products from
takhammur, while two types of takhallul. All the products can be determine of the alcohol
content and give an implication of the status either permissible (halal) or prohibited (haram).
Hence, in juice considered as halal due to lower of alcohol content. While cider or alcoholic
beverage is haram due to above alcohol level permitted which is above of the 1%. Besides,
cider vinegar or vinegar is halal by the interpretation of hadith of permissible conversion from
alcoholic to vinegar itself.