I heard that vanilla extract has certain amounts of alcohol in it and that we can't consume it. I live in America and almost everything has vanilla extract in it. Is it that big of a problem. Because I love Starbucks (a coffee shop), although mostly everything has vanilla extract.
A'salamu alaykum, sister. I've had this question too and just can't find a definitive answer for it. In sha Allah someone on here can answer for us with evidence. Also, it is extracted using alcohol and that's why it would be of concern.
From what I've gathered there's really 2 opinions on the matter. The first is that there are foods that have naturally occurring alcohol in them, such as fruits and yeasted breads, but no matter how much you eat from these foods they cannot intoxicate you and are therefore halal. In a similar way, foods that are manufactured with small amounts of alcohol in them such as cakes, sauces, ice cream, etc. are permissible to eat because they cannot intoxicate you if you eat a lot of them (eg. kind of like how kids are allowed to eat vanilla flavored cakes because they cannot get drunk from overeating them). However to intentionally put a haram substance in the food is forbidden. So if you were making a cake and put vanilla extract, it would be haram to eat because you purchased the alcohol which is haram on its own even if you don't use it, and then putting the haram substance in your food, and ingesting it. When they label food, if it doesn't include a large amount of alcohol then they usually do not include it in the ingredient list or they allow it to be purchased by all without age restriction.
The second opinion is that any food that clearly contains a haram substance such as alcohol is forbidden no matter what, and to avoid those food which are doubtful because in the Quran it clearly states that the sin is not in the fact that alcohol intoxicates but that Allah has forbidden us to drink it even if we saw benefit in drinking it.
From what I've gathered there's really 2 opinions on the matter. The first is that there are foods that have naturally occurring alcohol in them, such as fruits and yeasted breads, but no matter how much you eat from these foods they cannot intoxicate you and are therefore halal. In a similar way, foods that are manufactured with small amounts of alcohol in them such as cakes, sauces, ice cream, etc. are permissible to eat because they cannot intoxicate you if you eat a lot of them (eg. kind of like how kids are allowed to eat vanilla flavored cakes because they cannot get drunk from overeating them). However to intentionally put a haram substance in the food is forbidden. So if you were making a cake and put vanilla extract, it would be haram to eat because you purchased the alcohol which is haram on its own even if you don't use it, and then putting the haram substance in your food, and ingesting it. When they label food, if it doesn't include a large amount of alcohol then they usually do not include it in the ingredient list or they allow it to be purchased by all without age restriction.
The second opinion is that any food that clearly contains a haram substance such as alcohol is forbidden no matter what, and to avoid those food which are doubtful because in the Quran it clearly states that the sin is not in the fact that alcohol intoxicates but that Allah has forbidden us to drink it even if we saw benefit in drinking it.
Asalaamualaykum
Whenever you see alcohol in an ingredient, you would have to find out what that alcohol substance is. Please remember that its not alcohol that is haraam but it is actually the ethanol that is haraam. The Ethanol that is in the Alcohol is what chemically gives you the buzz so to speak.
The reason as to why we use word Alcohol is because of the way the west markets intoxicants - however you must remember there is huge difference between Alcohol and Ethanol.
So if the Alcohol does not have Ethanol - then that Alcohol is actually chemically impossible to intoxicate you.
Until we know the astute difference between these two terms regarding ingredients - we will be spinning in circles
So you would have to phone the company or manufacturer in question to find out if Ethanol is in that Alcohol.
There are many foods that reflect an Alcohol ingredient with absolutely no ethanol which means its halaal Example : Lauryl Alcohol is not haraam.
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