Jan
You’ve probably seen Halal Certification symbols on products, and may have wondered what it means.
Halal means “permissible” in Arabic and refers to food items that may be consumed under Sharia law, whereas haram is the opposite, referring to food that cannot be consumed by practising Muslims.
There are three main requirements for a food to be Halal:
* It must be free from any substance taken or extracted from a haram animal or ingredient. This includes alcohol, as well as pigs, all carnivorous animals and animals not slaughtered in compliance with Islamic rites
* It must be made, processed, manufactured and/or stored by using utensils, equipment and/or machinery that has been cleaned according to Islamic law. In particular, the equipment can not be cleaned with alcohol.
* It must be free from contact with, or being close to, a haram substance during preparation, manufacture, processing and storage.
Our manufacturing and storage meet these requirements and our certificate is issued by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (where our manufacturing takes place).
Four of our rempahs are vegan (Assam Pedas, Curry, Pongteh and Sioh). Our Stew contains chicken stock and our Buah Paya Masak Titek (green papaya savoury soup) uses salted fish bones. None of them contains any haram ingredients, but we sought out Halal certification to give peace-of-mind to lovers of Nyonya food who follow the Muslim faith.
