Gelatine is a protein, which is obtained from collagen derived from animal skin and bones.
2. What are the sources of gelatine?
Gelatine can be derived from either beef (bovine), pork (porcine), chicken (poultry) or fish (marine) sources.
- If it is derived from pork (porcine) raw material, it will always be deemed Haraam.
- If it is derived from fish (marine) sources, it will always be deemed Halaal.
- When derived from beef (bovine) or chicken (poultry), we need to determine whether the raw material has come from a Halaal slaughtered source or not. Where the raw material is from a Halaal slaughtered source, it will be accepted as Halaal. If the raw material is from a non-Halaal slaughter source, it will be deemed Haraam.
4. What is SANHA?s position on bovine gelatine?
Regarding Bovine gelatine, some Ulama contend that a drastic metamorphic change occurs in the non-Halaal animal material used in gelatine manufacture thereby rendering the impure collagenous protein into Halaal gelatine.
Majority of the Ulama and International Halaal certification bodies are of the view that such metamorphic change does NOT occur and therefore they do not accept this view and have adopted a very holistic position on gelatine and other such ingredients of non-Halaal animal origin used in food production.
SANHA’s Theological Committee holds the latter view and we reiterate that it is not acceptable to use non-Halaal raw material in the manufacture of food products due to the fact that abundance of Halaal raw material is available and Muslims should not look for technical loopholes (metamorphosis etc.) to legitimise the use of raw materials sourced from Haraam animals in food production.
Therefore SANHA recommends that all products containing non-Halaal gelatine be avoided.
