Are we in danger of eating Haraam products?
By Yasir Muhammad Khan & Sheikh Sahib
There are many products containing pig fat which we might not notice in the ingredients. Sheikh Sahib have worked in the food department of France for ten years. His duty dealt with the registration of food and cosmetic items.
Before launching the product the manufacturer would bring a specimen to me with a list of components used in it. I would send the specimen to laboratory for examination. Then I would compare the ingredients appearing in the laboratory report with the ones mentioned in the list submitted by the company. If there were no discrepancies, I would issue the registration letter. I noticed that some of the component lists submitted by the companies carried some codes like "E141" and "E904". In the beginning, I was very surprised at reading these codes. When I asked my senior officers about the codes, they said, 'check only the components and don't consider these letters'.
This increased my curiosity and I started investigating at my own. I came to know startling facts. My investigation revealed that pig meat is eaten in all Europe, America and Far East. In these countries, there are millions of farms for breeding pigs. In France alone, there are 42 thousand such farms. When the pigs reach a certain age, they are slaughtered and their meat is supplied to the markets. People eat pig flesh. In Europe and America, people do not eat fats at all while pig has a lot of fats.
Some two hundred years ago, pig farms and slaughter-houses were formally set up and pork was supplied to the consumers under supervision big problem to dispose of the fat. In the beginning they used to burn the fat but later they thought to use it in products. So, the pig fat was melted and used in making soap. The experiment was successful. Then, plants were set up to process the fat. The packed fat was brought in market where companies would put the fat for using it in food and drinks.
In the beginning of this century, quality control was systematized. European countries started to introduce quality control over food, drinks, lotions and drugs, and directed the manufacturing companies to print a list of ingredients and their effects. The companies started printing "Pig Fat" on the wrappers and bottles.
But when these products came to Islamic countries, the Muslims boycotted them. You must know the background of the freedom war in 1857 in India. At that time, rifle bullets were sent to India from Europe via sea. During the six-month journey in the sea, the bullets would get moisturized due to humid and salty air of sea and were no longer usable. Britain would put a coating on the bullets to preserve them. To use the bullets, the soldiers would peel the fat coating with their teeth. This continued for some time, but when the local soldiers came to know that the coating was made of pig fat, they revolted. The revolt turned into the freedom war of 1857.
Muslims around the world learnt that the European, products had pig fats, and the sale was adversely affected. The manufacturing companies raised a hue and cry and the European governments allowed them to print "animal fats" instead of "pig fats". Now the companies declared that their products used animal fats. But westerners kill the animals in a violent manner by electrocuting them or cutting the neck in one goes with machines. The Muslims slaughter the animals in Islamic way and believe slaughtering through electrocution as haraam, and do not eat the flesh, fat, etc of an animal slaughtered in such way.
The European companies renamed the "pig fats" as "animal fats", but the Muslims refused to accept as halaal all the animals slaughtered by the Europeans and started boycotting the European products having an animal ingredient.
This was the time when the companies had taken the shape of multinational companies and their products were being sold in the seven continents. The companies did not want to lose a one-third of their buyers. Secondly, the number of products and the output of companies had increased so much that it was nearly impossible to arrange for the fat of halaal animals or corn oil. If the companies had obtained the fats of animals slaughtered in Islamic ways or used corn oil. Their budget would have been affected and the cost would have increased.
Thirdly, the pig fat would have gone in waste. After prolonged deliberation, the European minds devised a solution that the companies should not mention "fat" on the ingredient list.
But there was a problem that under the law, the manufacturers were bound to print the names of ingredients. To solve this problem, they defined codes for animal ingredients used in the products. The codes represented which animal's ingredient was used in which ratio. The list of codes was sent to food departments of different countries. Since then, the companies mention only the codes and thus make billions of dollars profits every year.
It is a pity that the Muslims are unknowingly using these products. One major reason of the increasing obscenity and debauchery in the Muslim countries is the toothpaste, chewing gums, chocolates, sweets, biscuits, corn flakes, packed fruits and vitamin tablets in which fats of haraam animals have been used.
These are the only E codes you may detect in a product which has a haraam ingredient.. Please print a copy and take it with you on every shopping trip.
E-100 E-110 E-120 E-140 E-141 E-153 E-160a E-210
E-213 E-214 E-216 E-234 E-252 E-270 E-280 E-325
E-326 E-327 E-334 E-335 E-336 E-337 E-422e E-430
E-431 E-432 E-433 E-434 E-435 E-436 E-440 E-470
E-471 E-472a-e E-473 E-474 E-475 E-476 E-477 E-478
E-481 E-482 E-483 E-491 E-492 E-493 E-494 E-495
E-542 E-570 E-572 E-631 E-635 E-640 E-904 E-920
