Is Beef Gelatin Halal? Shocking Facts Inside!

Most of us have wondered how our candies are so chewy and yogurt has such a smooth consistency. The hidden ingredient is beef gelatin, about which the Muslim community is worried: is beef gelatin halal?

The answer depends on the source of beef gelatin. It is a kind of protein made from animals skin, bones or hides. It is halal if derived from animals that are slaughtered  according to Islamic rules. It is haram if derived from pork or even halal animals that are not slaughtered in an islamic way. This article aims to discover gelatin , its uses, production method and Islamic dietary status.

Gelatin is a type of protein obtained from skin bones or connective tissue of animals.
It is a colourless, tasteless, translucent found in dried brittle form. After boiling in water it turns into gooey liquid and become jelly like after cooling. It makes food thick.

Raw materials like skin bones or connective tissue is sourced from slaughter houses. These raw materials are collected from cows pigs or fish. Raw material is cleaned in alkaline or acidic medium to make it impurities free and break the structure of collagen.

This cleaned material is boiled in water to obtain collagen. The extracted collagen is filtered further to improve its clarity. Then, it is thickened followed by drying. The dried gelatin is milled and converted into fine powder and packed.

The making process of gelatin lacks questionable thing. The only thing is how it is sourced?. So gelatin made from pig is not halal.

Type A gelatin is made by acid treated raw material and have high gel strength. Type B is made from alkali treated raw material and have low gel strength. Both types of gelatin are haram if sourced from pig.

Gelatin has various uses in different industries from food to cosmetics and from pharmaceuticals to photography. It thickens jellies desserts and candies. In field of medicine it is used in capsules tablets and drugs. It is a main component when skin and hair care products comes. It is almost used in our most of the things, so to know about halal gelatin is necessary.

Importance of beef gelatin can’t be denied as is used in every aspect of life. To conclude, the ruling about gelatin’s halal status is the same as animals from which it is derived. It is haram if derived from pig. It is halal if derived from fish and cow slaughtered following Islamic guidelines.