Ingredients to avoid, and the names they hide behind

Seven entries. They turn up as a meat, a frying fat, a setting agent and an enzyme — four different places in an ingredient list, one origin.

• Pork (pig meat and derivatives)

  Also reads as: pork · pig · swine · porcine · pork derivative · pork product

  Meat and derivatives from pigs. The knowledge base records no source or process that changes the entry.

  CertifiersProhibited by unanimous agreement of all halal authorities.

• Bacon

  Also reads as: bacon bits · smoked bacon · streaky bacon · back bacon · pancetta

  Cured pork belly or side. Worth knowing: synthetic bacon flavour containing no pork is a separate entry and is often halal — the word on a packet is not always the meat.

  CertifiersBacon is pork and is prohibited by all halal authorities.

• Ham

  Also reads as: cured ham · gammon · prosciutto · jamón · deli ham

  Cured or cooked meat from a pig’s leg, sold under several names that never say “pork” on the front of the pack.

  CertifiersHam is pork and is prohibited by all halal authorities.

• Lard

  Also reads as: pork lard · rendered pork fat · manteca · saindoux · pig fat · lardo

  Rendered fat from pigs. The non-English trade names are the ones to memorise — manteca and saindoux appear on imported goods without translation.

  IFANCALard is haram and excluded from any halal product.

• Pork fat

  Also reads as: porcine fat · rendered pig fat · fatback · pork shortening

  Fat rendered or trimmed from pigs. Pork shortening is the form most likely to appear in a baked-goods ingredient list.

  CertifiersProhibited by all halal authorities as a pig-derived ingredient.

• Pork gelatin

  Also reads as: porcine gelatin · pig gelatin · gelatin (pork) · pigskin gelatin

  Gelatin manufactured from pig skin or bones; processing does not change its origin. Note the distinction: where a label says only gelatin, that is a different and doubtful entry — see below.

  JAKIMPorcine gelatin is prohibited; only halal bovine or fish gelatin may be certified.

• Pepsin (porcine)

  Also reads as: pork pepsin · pig pepsin · pepsin (pork) · pepsin 1:3000 porcine

  A digestive enzyme taken from the stomach lining of pigs. The grade code pepsin 1:3000 porcine is how it is usually written on a technical ingredient list.

  IFANCAPig-derived pepsin is haram and never certified.

Two entries, and both apply regardless of species — including an animal that was slaughtered acceptably. They surface mainly in processed meats, as a binder rather than as a visible ingredient.

• Blood

  Also reads as: animal blood · dried blood · blood meal · blood sausage filler · haemoglobin

  Flowing blood from animals. The entry holds regardless of the species it came from.

  CertifiersBarred by all halal authorities.

• Blood plasma

  Also reads as: plasma protein · plasma powder · blood plasma powder · fibrinogen plasma

  The protein-rich liquid fraction of animal blood, used as a binder in processed meats. On a label it reads as a protein, not as blood — which is precisely why it is missed.

  IFANCABlood-derived plasma proteins are haram and not certified.

Ten entries covering alcohol put into a product deliberately. The knowledge base draws a line worth keeping: this is alcohol as a listed ingredient, which it treats separately from trace residual alcohol left by natural fermentation or by a solvent carrier, assessed differently and against thresholds.

• Ethanol, as an added ingredient

  Also reads as: alcohol · ethyl alcohol · grain alcohol · neutral grain spirit · rectified spirit

  Ethanol added deliberately. Distinct from trace residual alcohol from fermentation or solvent processing, which the knowledge base assesses separately.

  JAKIMProhibits alcohol from the liquor (khamr) industry; tolerates small amounts of naturally occurring or non-khamr industrial ethanol below set thresholds.

• Wine

  Also reads as: table wine · sherry · port · marsala · madeira

  Grape-based alcoholic drink, including fortified styles sold under their own names. Using it in cooking does not remove the alcohol.

  CertifiersUnanimously prohibited by all schools of thought and all major bodies, including as a cooking ingredient.

• Red wine

  Also reads as: red cooking wine · red wine reduction · burgundy

  Red wine in any culinary form. Reducing or simmering does not remove all of the alcohol, so sauces and reductions carry the same entry.

  CertifiersUnanimously prohibited, including in sauces and reductions.

• White wine

  Also reads as: dry white wine · white cooking wine

  White wine, including bottles sold specifically for cooking. Heat does not fully eliminate the alcohol.

  CertifiersUnanimously prohibited, including as a cooking ingredient.

• Beer

  Also reads as: lager · ale · stout · beer batter

  Brewed alcoholic drink. Beer batters, marinades and sauces still contain alcohol after cooking, so beer batter on a menu or a frozen pack belongs here.

  CertifiersUnanimously prohibited, including as a cooking or batter ingredient.

• Rum

  Also reads as: dark rum · rum extract · natural rum flavor

  A distilled spirit. Rum extract and “natural rum flavor” typically contain real rum in an alcohol base. Clearly artificial or imitation rum flavour is a separate, doubtful entry.

  CertifiersSpirits and extracts made from real spirits are prohibited by all major bodies.

• Bourbon

  Also reads as: bourbon whiskey · bourbon extract

  Distilled whiskey, including where it flavours sauces, glazes and baked goods. One caution against over-reading a label: bourbon vanilla usually means vanilla from Bourbon Island (Madagascar), not the spirit.

  CertifiersSpirits used as ingredients or flavourings are prohibited by all major bodies.

• Brandy

  Also reads as: cognac · armagnac · brandy extract

  A spirit distilled from wine, sold under regional names. Brandy extracts and brandy-flavoured fillings made with real brandy fall under the same entry.

  CertifiersSpirits used as ingredients or flavourings are prohibited by all major bodies.

• Whiskey

  Also reads as: whisky · scotch · scotch whisky · natural whiskey flavor

  A distilled grain spirit, including where real whiskey flavours sauces, marinades and confectionery.

  CertifiersSpirits used as ingredients or flavourings are prohibited by all major bodies.

• Liqueur

  Also reads as: coffee liqueur · cream liqueur · irish cream · amaretto · orange liqueur

  Sweetened alcoholic spirits. This specifically covers liqueur-filled chocolates and liqueur-flavoured desserts made with real liqueur — the form most often met in a confectionery aisle.

  CertifiersAlcoholic liqueurs and fillings containing them are prohibited by all major bodies.

Four entries that sit apart from the drinks aisle, because each answers an objection a shopper is likely to raise: it is salted so nobody drinks it, it is a seasoning, it is only a powder. In every case the knowledge base’s reason is the same — salting, culinary use and drying are not treated as transformation into a new substance. Three of these live in the condiments aisle, which is why they are the ones most often missed.

• Cooking wine

  Also reads as: shaoxing wine · chinese cooking wine · rice cooking wine · cooking sherry

  Real wine with salt added so it is undrinkable as a beverage. The salt and the cooking do not change what the ingredient is.

  CertifiersTreated as prohibited by all major bodies; salting wine for culinary use does not constitute transformation (istiḥala).

• Mirin

  Also reads as: sweet rice wine · sweet cooking rice wine · aji-mirin · hon mirin

  Japanese sweet rice wine at roughly 8–14% alcohol. Alcohol-free “mirin-style” or mirin-fu seasonings do exist, but anything labelled simply mirin should be treated as containing alcohol.

  JAKIMLists mirin among alcoholic seasonings not permitted in certified products.

• Sake

  Also reads as: saké · japanese rice wine · cooking sake · ryorishu

  Fermented rice wine with significant alcohol content. Cooking sake (ryorishu) is still sake, often just with salt added.

  JAKIMLists sake among alcoholic ingredients not permitted in certified products.

• Wine extract and wine powder

  Also reads as: wine powder · red wine powder · white wine powder · wine solids · dried wine

  Concentrated or dried wine used to give food a wine flavour. Drying or concentrating is not a transformation into a new substance — the knowledge base draws the contrast with vinegar, where it records that transformation has occurred.

  CertifiersProhibited by major bodies as a flavouring; unlike vinegar, no transformation has taken place.

• Gelatin, source unstated E441

  The label rarely states the species or the slaughter method. It may come from pork, from non-zabiha cattle, or from a halal source — so unlike pork gelatin it is unresolved rather than settled.

• Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids E471

  The most widespread emulsifier in packaged food. Its glycerol and fatty acids may come from vegetable oils or from animal fat including pork, and the source is almost never declared.

• Lecithin, source unstated E322

  Almost always soy, sunflower or rapeseed, and egg lecithin is halal too — but a bare “lecithin” declares no source, and a rare animal-fat origin cannot be ruled out.

• Glycerin / glycerol, source unstated E422

  Can be made from vegetable oils, synthesised from petrochemicals, or rendered from animal fats including pork tallow. Labels rarely say which.

• Natural flavors, unspecified

  An umbrella term that can legally include animal-derived components, and that commonly uses ethanol or other solvents as carriers. The source cannot be read off the label.

• Cheese with unstated rennet

  The coagulant may be animal, microbial or plant, and is usually unstated. There is a genuine scholarly split here, with some permitting cheese set with rennet from animals not slaughtered in the prescribed way.

• Whey, source unstated

  Whey is what is left from cheesemaking, so its status simply follows the rennet used to make the parent cheese — which the label almost never names.

• L-Cysteine / L-Cystine E920

  A dough conditioner in bread, bagels and pastries. It may be synthetic, microbial, or extracted from feathers, hog hair or human hair. All major bodies reject the human-hair source.

• Carmine / cochineal E120

  Not a sourcing question at all. Authorities disagree: HMC and HFSAA treat insect-derived colour as impermissible, while MUI and JAKIM have permitted it. Which answer applies depends on whom you follow.

• Shellac / confectioner’s glaze E904

  Also a live disagreement rather than a missing fact. Some bodies accept it as an insect secretion comparable to beeswax; others flag the insect origin and the ethanol solvent used to process it.