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Post by blackburnashrafi on Oct 9, 2004 13:32:00 GMT
Dear Imam...
I understand that eating of bones is not permitted in Islam. Gelatine is made from the bones of animals. Therefore, is it halaal to eat sweets that are made with gelatine produced from the bones of animals slaughtered according to the Shar'iah.
The reason why I ask is that sweets produced in Pakistan which are now widely available in the UK label themselves as halaal, yet contain beef gelatine.
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Post by Ali Asghar Moosa on Oct 23, 2004 16:27:26 GMT
Dear imam
why are we not allowed gelatine what does gelatine have inside it
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Post by Imam on Nov 30, 2004 22:47:25 GMT
Allah, Most Glorious and Sublime we Praise, and Infinite Blessings and Peace upon His Beloved and Noble Messenger, Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa Sallam
Allah, with His name I begin; The Most Compassionate, The Most Merciful
First we must understand what Gelatine is, how it is produced and its uses or benefits. The following excerpts have been taken from the relevant Websites on this subject.
INTRODUCTION TO GELATINE
Gelatine is a wholesome food protein derived from mammalian skin and bone. It is unique in that a dilute solution in water forms a thermally reversible elastic gel, which melts at below body temperature; hence jellies made from gelatine have a melt in the mouth texture with excellent flavour release. Gelatine (spelled gelatin in the US) has a large variety of useful properties besides forming a gel with water. Its adhesive properties are used in tableting and sticking together the layers of Liquorice All-sorts. Its crystallisation control properties are used in making ice-lollies and ice cream. Its film forming properties are used in making hard and soft capsules, which together with its foaming properties are used in the manufacture of marshmallow products and its emulsifying properties are utilised in making toffees and ice cream. Its thickening properties are used in powdered soup formulation and its water binding property is used in the manufacture of canned meats. Finally, at higher concentration it binds the ingredients of gelled confectionery into jelly-babies and a host of similar products. Besides these uses, gelatine is also being shown to have applications in combating osteoporosis and arthritis.
Competitive gelling agents like starch, alginate, pectin, agar, carrageenan etc. are all carbohydrates from vegetable sources, but their gels lack the melt in the mouth, elastic properties of gelatine gels.
HISTORY
Gelatine is derived from the Latin verb gelare meaning Ato congeal and has been known for thousands of years. There is an ancient stone carving found in the ancient city of Thebes from the time of Thotines III (c.1000 BC) which showed the veneering of a rare red wood over yellow sycamore using glue derived from hide, by cooking. During Roman times Pliny wrote, A Glue is cooked from the hides of bulls. Then during the Elizabethan period, Shakespeare made reference to glue in his writings and commercially glue was available in England from about 1700. When one makes soup and allows it to cool and the soup gels, it is the gelatine formed from heating collagenous materials that is responsible for the gel. However, the development of gelatine as an isolated food ingredient has only occurred over the last 150 years or so, and today the world production is about 220 000 tons per annum of which some 60 % is used in the food industry.
PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING
Gelatine is produced from two main sources of raw material, namely skin and bone. The production from bone requires that the bone be crushed, degreased and all meat removed before demineralisation using dilute hydrochloric acid to solubalize the calcium carbonate and phosphate in the bone. The residual protein matrix (collagen I) is then converted to gelatine by heating in water, filtration and ion-exchange of the resulting solution to remove contaminants, and then the solution is concentrated, gelled and dried. Finally the dry gelatine can be milled to a fineness most suited to its use i.e. fine ground for fast dissolving or coarse ground for minimal foam generation in confectionery manufacture.
In the manufacture of gelatine from skin, the process depends very much on the age of the animal. For young animal hide, the hide can be simply acidified to about pH 4 and then warmed to denature the collagen, which then dissolves as gelatine. Older bovine hide requires an alkaline pre-treatment to separate hair and condition the hide to make it dissolve in hot water. After the alkaline treatment, which has a marked chemical effect on the hide and causes dissolution of most of the non-collagen components, the hide is acidified and then dissolved in hot water as with young animal hide. The gelatine solution is then filtered, ion-exchanged, sterilized, concentrated, gelled and dried normally. It should be noted that the alkali process produces gelatine with an isoelectric point (pI) of about 5 whereas gelatines produced without any alkaline treatment of the collagen have a pI of 7 to 9. For the housewife this has no importance but in more demanding applications pI can be very important. In Germany, gelatine derived from fishskin is available from outlets specialising in the kosher market.
RELIGIOUS CONSIDERATIONS
Because gelatine is a protein derived from animal sources, there are problems from religious points of view and the strict vegetarian cannot use it. From the Kosher and Halaal points of view there should be no problem with gelatine because both religions have provision for an inedible substance (skin) to be transformed into an acceptable edible product (gelatine). However in the case of gelatine the problem is confounded because there is provision for the animals used to be killed in accordance with Muslim or Jewish law and hence there are some who contend that gelatine additionally needs to be produced from suitably slaughtered animals. The solution to the problem has been to use gelatine from fish skin because in Jewish law the whole of a scale bearing fish is edible and kosher. The problem with this is that cold seawater fish skin gelatine has a very poor gel strength and the availability of warm fresh-water fish skin from which a high gel strength gelatine can be produced, is very limited.
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Post by Imam on Nov 30, 2004 23:02:08 GMT
Re: Halal Gelatine (cont'd) HEALTH AND NUTRITIONAL HIGHLIGHTSGelatine composition (Typical): Moisture (%) Protein (%) Fat (%0 Carbohydrate (%) Fibre (%) Ash (%) Kilojoules per 100 g 11 88 0 0 0 < 1.0 c. 1500 Gelatine usually forms a small part of any foodstuff (2 to 6 %) and hence its nutritional value is seldom considered important. As a protein, it is deficient in tryptophan, which is one of the nine essential amino acids. As a result, gelatine has no Biological Value! However, gelatine is seldom consumed in isolation or as a sole source of protein in the diet, so in a mixed diet gelatine has the advantage of meat products, of being high in the essential amino acid lysine. Thus, it can be considered a valuable compliment to any largely vegetable diet. Also, it has been shown to enhance the protein nutritional value of bread. From the point of view of the dietary benefits of gelatine, it has long been said to have beneficial effects for those suffering from nail defects. The benefits of gelatine consumption on nail growth and nail strength were documented in double-blind studies conducted on nurses in the 1950s. More recently it has been found that the degree of the progress of osteoporosis can be measured by the excretion of collagen terminal amino acids in the urine. It follows that osteoporosis is associated with the destruction of bone collagen and it has been shown that the ingestion of gelatine (derived from collagen) reduces the amount of degradation of the natural collagen and therefore reduces the amount damage done by this disease. Presumably, the enzymes that were degrading bone collagen are spent on degrading gelatine when it is available in sufficient quantity. Then again it has been known from double-blind studies that taking gelatine can alleviate the pain and inflammation caused by arthritis. A recent rodent study, using isotopically labelled gelatine, showed that most of the gelatine was found concentrated in the joints, which at last gave some indication of the mode of action of gelatine in arthritis i.e. it looks as though it is used in the cartilage repair processes! Other clinical statistical studies have indicated that gelatine promotes hair growth and it is well known that gelatine is substantive to hair and has many beneficial effects in that it has an antistatic effect, hair strengthening effect and improves hair gloss and repairs the damage caused by permanent-waving when incorporated at the level of about 0.5 % in shampoos and conditioners. MEDICAL CONDITION ALERT
Allergic reaction to gelatine is almost unknown and when observed the allergic reactions is invariably mild. FURTHER STUDY RESOURCES Reading:The Science and Technology of Gelatine. Ed. AG Ward & A Courts. Academic Press. London, New York, San Francisco. 1977. The Macromolecular Chemistry of gelatine. A. Veis. Academic Press, New York & London. 1964. Gum Technology in the Food Industry. M. Glicksman. Academic Press. New York & London. 1969. Web Sites.Gelatine Manufacturers Europe: www.gelatine.org/Dr CGB Cole. Gelatine including Research: www.gelatin.co.zaGelita: www.gelita.com/DGF-english/index.html REFERENCES:Bender DA & Bender AE. Benders= dictionary of nutrition and food technology. 7th Ed. Woodhead Publishing Ltd. Cambridge England. 1999. Glicksman. M. Gum Technology in the Food Industry. Academic Press. New York & London. 1969. Osser S., Adam M., et al. Oral administration of 14C labled gelatin hydrolysate leads to an accumulation of radioactivity in cartilage of mice (C57/BL). Journal of Nutrition [JONUAI]. 129(10), 1892-1895. 1999. Competitive gelling agents like starch, alginate, pectin, agar, carrageenan etc. are all carbohydrates from vegetable sources, but their gels lack the melt in the mouth, elastic properties of gelatine gels. GELATIN MANUFACTURE
There are a large number of unit processes used in the manufacture of gelatine and the raw materials from which it is derived are demineralised bone (called ossein), pigskin, cow hide, fish skin and in China, donkey hide is also used quite extensively. In theory there is no reason for excluding any collagen source from the manufacture of gelatine, but the ones above are the currently commercially available raw materials. Interestingly, in countries where pork is sold with its skin intact, there is no pigskin available for gelatine manufacture. There are basically two processes by which collagen is processed to gelatine: The acid process (studied in detail by Reich (9)) is mainly used with pigskin and fish skin and sometimes bone raw materials. It is basically one in which the collagen is acidified to about pH 4 and then heated stepwise from 50°C to boiling to denature and solubilize the collagen. Thereafter the denatured collagen or gelatine solution has to be defatted, filtered to high clarity, concentrated by vacuum evaporation or membrane ultra-filtration treatment, to a reasonably high concentration for gelation and then drying by passing dry air over the gel. The final process is one of grinding and blending to customer requirements and packaging. The resulting gelatine has an isoionic point of 7 to 9 based on the severity and duration of the acid processing of the collagen which causes limited hydrolysis of the asparagine and glutamine amino acid side chains. The alkali process (studied in detail by Cole and Roberts (10)) is used on bovine hide and collagen sources where the animals are relatively old at slaughter. The process is one in which collagen is submitted to a caustic soda or lengthy liming process prior to extraction. The alkali hydrolyses the asparagine and glutamine side chains to glutamic and aspartic acid relatively quickly (11), with the result that the gelatine has a traditional isoionic point of 4.8 to 5.2, however, with shortened (7 days or less) alkali treatment, isoionic points as high as 6 are produced. After the alkali processing, the collagen is washed free of alkali and treated with acid to the desired extraction pH (which has a marked effect on the gel strength to viscosity ratio of the final product). The collagen is then denatured and converted to gelatine by heating, as with the acid process. Because of the alkali treatment, it is often necessary to demineralise the gelatine solution to remove excessive amounts of salts using ion-exchange or ultra-filtration. Thereafter the process is the same as for the acid process - vacuum evaporation, filtration, gelation, drying, grinding and blending. As a consequence of the BSE crisis many consumers are uncertain about the safety of gelatine. Although this is understandable, it is groundless: International studies and experts have confirmed that gelatine is quite safe. The quality of gelatine at the highest standard is guaranteed by : The Selection of the Raw Materials The European gelatine manufacturers use only raw materials from healthy animals that have been examined by a vet and whose meat you would find on your butcher’s counter. The Production Process Gelatine is produced in modern, highly technological industrial installations. All GME member companies are certified according to the internationally applicable ISO 9002 standard, a quality management system.
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Post by Imam on Nov 30, 2004 23:12:58 GMT
Re: Halal Gelatine (contd)
First-Class Raw Materials are a Matter of Course
The optimum precautions to ensure safety and quality include the careful selection of the raw materials used to manufacture gelatine. The European gelatine manufacturers use only raw materials from healthy pigs, cattle, fish and poultry that have been examined by a vet. Furthermore, all GME member companies have been certified to ISO 9002. The gelatine manufacturing industry is one of the best-structured and best-controlled industries of all in Europe.
80 % of the edible gelatine produced in Europe is pure pigskin gelatine. 15% comes from cattle spit. This is the thin layer containing collagen between the upper skin and the subcutaneous layer. The remaining 5 %comes from pig and cattle bones, poultry and fish.
There are comprehensive European statutory regulations for the slaughter, the controls and the licensing procedure by governmental institutions. All raw materials are subject to continuous checks on safety and origin. The animals come only from approved slaughterhouses and are examined by vets. Only raw materials from animals approved for human consumption are used for the manufacture of gelatine. Or in other words, the meat the consumer buys and the raw material for gelatine comes from the same healthy animal.
Edible gelatine meets the requirements of the edible gelatine regulation and is also subject to food safety legislation.
Pharmaceutical gelatine must comply with the stringent requirements of the official pharmacopoeia.
The Manufacturing Process
Gelatine is produced in highly technological industrial installations in a complex procedure involving several stages. The input material is the connective tissue of pigs, cattle, poultry or fish. The collagen protein is removed from the pig, calf or cattle skin as well as bones and is processed to form gelatine. Gelatine the final product is a pure source of protein.
Pre-treatment
First of all, the fat and minerals are removed from the raw materials. Afterwards two different pre-treatment methods are used, depending on the raw material and on the final application of the gelatine.
Alkaline Procedure
The connective tissue of cattle is highly interconnected and is therefore pre-treated with lime in a process lasting several weeks. This brings about a gentle change to the collagen structure. After this treatment, the collagen is soluble in warm water and can thus be separated from the rest of the raw material.
Acid Procedure
The collagen connective tissue from pigskin is not so heavily interconnected. Here, a one-day acid treatment with subsequent neutralisation and the intensive rinsing out of the salts is sufficient to extract the collagen.
Extraction
The pre-treated raw materials are now treated with hot drinking water and extracted in several stages. The temperature of the hot water is a parameter for the jelly strength: the lower the temperature of the water, the higher the jelly strength (Bloom value) of the extracted gelatine.
Cleaning
The extracted solutions are freed of traces of fat and fine fibres in high-performance separators. Even the finest impurities are removed by filtration, in a similar way to the beverages industry. In a last purification stage the gelatine is freed of calcium, sodium, residual acid and other salts.
Thickening
The gelatine solution is now concentrated in vacuum evaporators and thickened to form a honey-like solution.
Drying
The highly concentrated gelatine solutions are sterilised, cooled, set and dried under strict hygienic conditions. In this process, “gel noodles” are formed that are ground into grains.
The quality and purity of the gelatine is ensured by detailed quality control.
All of these steps are indispensable for gelatine manufacture and have been used for decades to manufacture high-quality gelatine.... that is used in the most diverse sectors of industry and products and develops its stabilising effect quite naturally.
Food Industry
Gelatine is a high-quality protein and, as a food, combines many positive properties for a healthy diet. Gelatine is also indispensable for modern cuisine thanks to its unique gelling strength.
Pharmaceuticals Industry Gelatine coats and protects drugs.
Photographical Thanks to gelatine, amateur films, colour paper, graphic films and X-ray films, can be produced in industrial volumes.
Gelatine – Thoroughly Natural and Healthy
A High-Quality Protein for Humans
Without protein there would be no human life. Other nutrients, such as fats and carbohydrates, can replace each other in the human metabolism over long periods. But people need protein every day. The natural foodstuff gelatine is therefore of inestimable value to the human organism. Gelatine is a pure protein obtained from raw materials containing collagen.
Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. The human body is capable of making all the proteins it needs from amino acids. However, there are ten amino acids that the body cannot produce itself and therefore have to be regularly consumed in the diet. They are called essential amino acids. Gelatine contains a total of 18 amino acids. Gelatine Contains: 84-90% protein 1-2% mineral salts the rest is water
Gelatine does not contain any preservatives or other additives. It is free of cholesterol and purines (= uric acid compounds)
INTRODUCTION TO HALAL
Islam is not a mere religion. It is a way of life with rules and manners governing every facet of life. Since food is an important part of daily life, food laws carry a special significance. Muslims are expected to eat for survival, to maintain good health and not to live for eating. In Islam, eating is considered to be a matter of worship of God like prayer, fasting, charitable donations and other religious activities. A Muslim eats to maintain a strong and healthy physique in order to be able to contribute his knowledge and effort for the welfare of the society. Muslims are supposed to make an effort to obtain the best quality nutritionally. It is mentioned in a Hadith that Allah rejects the prayer of a person if his food is haram. Another Hadith states that hell-fire is more deserving of the flesh that has been nourished with Haram.
HALAL
In general every food is considered lawful in Islam unless the Qu’ran or the Hadith specially prohibits it. By official definition, Halal foods are those that are: * Free from any component that Muslims are prohibited from consuming according to Islamic law. * Processed, made, produced, manufactured and/or stored using utensils, equipment and/or machinery that has been cleansed according to Islamic law. * Free from contamination while prepared or processed with anything considered Najis (filthy/impure).
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Post by Imam on Nov 30, 2004 23:15:08 GMT
Re: Halal Gelatine (contd)
HARAM
1. According to the current Islamic thinking, the following are considered Najis and therefore Haram (unlawful, prohibited): (a) Swine including all by-products. (b) Insects considered ugly or filthy such as worms, lice, flies, etc. (c) Animals with fangs such as tigers, lions, cats etc, (d) Birds that have talons with which they catch their prey such as owls, eagles, etc. (e) Animals which Islam encourages to kill such as scorpions, centipedes, rats etc, (f) Dogs (g) Animals which Islam forbids to kill such as bees etc. (h) Animals which have toxins, poisons or produce ill effects when eaten such as some fish etc. (i) Amphibian animals such as crocodiles, turtles, frogs etc. (j) Meat (limbs, tails etc.) which have been cut from a live animal. (k) Lawful animals not slaughtered according to Islamic rites. (Fish is exempt from slaughtering). (l) Carrion or dead animals.
2. Plant and their products. (a) Poisonous Plant. (b) Intoxicating Plant
3. Liquids and their products (a) Poisonous drinks (b) Intoxicating drinks
4. Other matters and their products (a) Faeces and urine (b) Placental tissue (c) Blood
5. Halal Sources: Products made from the following substances are Halal unless containing or come into contact with a Haram substance.
All plant and their products: .Certified Halal meat, poultry, game birds and animals. .All water creatures, fish, crustaceans and molluscs. .Egg from acceptable birds only. .Rennet from certified Halal slaughtered calves .Non animal rennet (NAR, culture) .Gelatine produced from certified Halal beef/fish skins and/or bones, .Animal ingredients certified Halal
6. Halal Slaughter The conditions and certain modern requisites [due to recent problems with Muslim Meat & Poultry Abattoirs, Wholesalers & retail butchers selling non-Halal poultry or meat under the pretext of Halal] required for Halal slaughter of animals and birds are: (a) The Muslim abattoirs or Muslim Wholesalers/Importers must be under the close and constant supervision of a Muslim organisation, (b) The premises, machinery and equipment must be classed according to Islamic Shariah (law) before any production takes place, (c) The slaughter man must be a mature, pious Muslim of sound mind who understands fully the fundamentals and conditions relating to Halal slaughter and be approved by the religious authorities, (d) Only acceptable live animals and birds can be slaughtered, (e) The slaughter must be done using a steel knife or similar sharp blade, (f) The slaughter man must sever the respiratory tract, oesophagus and the jugular vein. (g) The animal must be completely dead before skinning can take place.
HALAL CONCEPT
In the religion of Islam, a strong emphasis is placed on cleanliness/hygiene - both spiritually and in the context of food and drink. For a food or drink product to be approved for consumption it must conform to the Islamic dietary laws as specified in the Quran, the Sunnah, and in the Fiqh (Scientific understanding) of the Muslim Jurists: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafiy and Hambali schools. The Quran gives clear injunctions instructing Muslims to choose and consume good and wholesome foodstuffs.
In the selection of food and drink, Islam has laid down three very important guidelines, namely;
1. Whether the consumption of the foodstuff is prohibited by Allah, 2. Whether the foodstuff is obtained through Halal or Haram means, and 3. Whether or not the material is harmful to health.
There are several factors that determine the Halal/Haram status of a particular foodstuff. Amongst others, it is dependent on its nature, how it was processed and where it originated from. As an example, any pig product is considered Haram because the material itself is Haram. Whereas beef (or any other raw by-product) from an animal that has not been slaughtered according to Islamic rites would still be considered Haram. Also, Haram is food that has been stolen or acquired through unethical means. Islam also prohibits the usage of any materials that are detrimental to the spiritual or mental well being of a person, such as alcoholic drinks and drugs.
The concept of Halal in Islam has very specific motives;
1. To preserve the purity of religion, 2. To safeguard the physical and mental health of Muslims, 3. To preserve life, 4. To safeguard property, 5. To safeguard future generations, 6. To maintain self-respect and integrity.
Islam encourages its followers to choose Halal foods. This awareness is always propagated in Muslim societies and is strengthened by the widespread knowledge extolling the virtues of consuming clean and Halal foods. Due to advancements in food technology and distribution, Muslims are more exposed to various ingredients and manufactured foods imported into Muslim countries. The most common of these are food additives, gelatine, emulsifiers and rennet in cheese manufacture. The Muslim community would like to know whether or not the addition, the ingredients or the finished foods contain any Haram substance. These products can become Halal if the raw materials are Halal and the process is compatible with the Islamic way. To determine the Halal-Haram status of foodstuffs and other material, Islam has laid general guidelines on this matter, namely:
1. All raw materials and ingredients used must be Halal. 2. Naturally Halal animals such as cattle, goats etc., must be slaughtered according to Islamic rites, the rituals specify that the act must be performed by a mentally sound Muslim, to sever the blood and respiratory channels of the animal, using a sharp cutting tool such as knife. 3. The Halal ingredients must not be mixed, or come into contact with haram materials such as products from pig or dog during storage, transport, cooking, serving etc. It must be understood that the production of Halal food is not only beneficial to Muslims, but also to food producers, by means of increased market acceptance of their products.
MODERN PRODUCTS
In the modern processing of food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products we cannot escape from the issue of food ingredients, which originates from animals, especially additives and many of these are imported. The ingredients are made from various sources, including Haram sources as well. The products from animal sources, which may pose problems, are given below:
Bone and Hide Products Gelatine that is used in many food preparations is another important animal product. The main sources are skin and bones. The production from skin basically involves an extraction process of several stages with increasing temperatures, filtration and concentration in a vacuum evaporator. On the other hand production from bones would involve the removal of fat, demineralisation and extraction with dilute alkali. Besides being a source of gelatine, bones when converted into bone meal and purified, is used as a natural source of calcium and phosphorus, which can be used in paediatric food. The hides of the cattle can be processed into edible crackers, while chicken and pigskin can be emulsified to be used as ingredients in the production of emulsion type sausages. Again if the bones and hides are not from the slaughtered animals according to Shariah principles, these products cannot be accepted.
Pork and all pig products are prohibited and every part, in its entirety; be it the flesh, skin, hair or bones are Najis; impure. However, burning the parts of pig into ash, or through other means of combustion, i.e. changing its reality, its chemical composition that it no longer attains any of its principle chemical components, would purify the product. However, as far as Muslim consumption is concerned whether it is for the pharmaceutical industry or food industry, it is still Makruh; offensive to use, especially when other alternatives exists.
So, Gelatine produced from Halal slaughtered animals is undoubtedly Halal. There are now special industries catering for the Halal production of Gelatine and other Halal by-products, which the Muslim consumer should support and monitor.
As far as the specific Question referring to sweets made in Pakistan with beef gelatine as an ingredient : if this particular Gelatine is made from Halal slaughtered beef it is undoubtedly Halal and permissable to consume.
Under International Food Regulations and trading standards any manufactured Halal food has International legal implications, hence it is the duty of importers to verify the product before importing for Muslim consumption.
And the Knowledge of Allah, Most Glorified & Exalted is Complete and Encompasses all, and Grant Infinite Blessings and Peace upon His Revered & Beloved Messenger, Salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa Sallam.
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