Important News about Chocolate Products - from Masterfood Company

[rahimah]

Assamalaykum brothers and sisters.. i have no idea where to post this thread so right now its under "General Chat". So do let me knw if theres more suitable place i can post this thread.

Anyway the matter is that all the below Masterfood Company Chocolate Products (Mars) are no longer Halal. They started using Animal product rennet in it for products that have expiry date after 1st of October 2007.

Please check this article from BBC News:

[URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6653175.stm"]

Mars starts using animal products




Masterfoods' brands are household names


[For the non-muslims on this site]

Some of the UK's best-selling chocolate bars, such as Mars and Twix, will no longer be suitable for vegetarians.
(and strict Hindus and Buddhists)

Also affecting brands such as Snickers and Maltesers, owner Masterfoods said it had started to use animal product rennet to make its chocolate products.

Masterfoods said the change was due to it switching the sourcing of its ingredients and the admission was a "principled decision" on its part.

The Vegetarian Society said the company's move was "incomprehensible".
'Extremely disappointed'

Masterfoods said it had started using rennet from 1 May and non-affected products had a "best before date" up to 1 October.


Rennet, a chemical sourced from calves' stomachs, is used in the production of whey.

It will now also be found in Bounty, Minstrels and Milky Way products, and the ice cream versions of all Masterfoods' bars.

"If the customer is an extremely strict vegetarian, then we are sorry the products are no longer suitable, but a less strict vegetarian should enjoy our chocolate," said Paul Goalby, corporate affairs manager for Masterfoods.
The Vegetarian Society said it was "extremely disappointed".
"At a time when more and more consumers are concerned about the provenance of their food, Masterfoods' decision to use non-vegetarian whey is a backward step," it said in a statement.
"Mars products are very popular with young people and many will be shocked to discover that their manufacture now relies on the extraction of rennet from the stomach lining of young calves," it added.




These are Non- Halal now...

· Bounty

· Celebrations

· Dove Chocolate

· Flyte

· Galaxy

· Kudos (North America)

· Lockets

· M-Azing (North America)

· Maltesers

· M&M's

· Mars Bar

· Mars Delight

· Milky Way

· Minstrels (UK only)

· Mars Planets (newly inroduced in UK)

· Skittles

· Snickers (The top-selling candy bar in the United States. Known in the UK as Marathon until 1990.)

· Starburst (Originally Opal Fruits in the UK.)

· 3 Musketeers (North America)

· Topic

· Twix

· Snicker's Marathon Energy Bar

· AquaDrops

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[Sinbad]

wonderull news! Animal fat is much better! Read an article on BBC, an iraqi sweat maker wants hes sweats taste perfect.

So he still uses animal fat even if its more expencive with the war and all.

Other sweats makers xheat and mix it with vegetablic fat.

And isnt the rule only for meat? does the fat has to be halal as well?

[ummAbdillah]

That's a shame I love chocolete

[rahimah]

And isnt the rule only for meat? does the fat has to be halal as well?

“O ye who believe! Eat of the good things wherewith We have provided you, and render thanks to Allah if it is (indeed) He whom ye worship” (2:172).
Well lets get our terms right first shall we? =)
"Halal" is a Quranic Term, which means 'Lawful' or 'Permitted'. Sometimes it is translated as 'Acceptable' or 'Not forbidden'. Halal foods and drinks are permitted for consumption by Allah- the supreme lawgiver. In the Holy Quran, Allah commands Muslims and all of mankind to eat of the Halal things. Eating Halal is obligatory.
The opposite of 'Halal' is "Haram", which means 'Unlawful' or 'Prohibited". The other words used for Haram is 'Unacceptable' or 'Forbidden'. Haram foods and drinks are absolutely prohibited for consumption by Allah. Eating Haram is forbidden for every Muslim. If a Muslim consumes Haraam foods, he would be sinful.
"Mushbooh" is an Arabic term which means 'doubtful' or 'suspected'. If one does not know the Halal or Haram status of a particular food or drink, such a food or drink is doubtful. A practicing Muslims prevents himself from consuming doubtful things.
The terms Halal and Haram will be used strictly to describe food products, meat products, cosmetics, personal care products, food ingredients, beverages and food contact materials. Which foods are Halal or which foods are Haram, is decided according to the Holy Quran and the Glorious Shari’ah (Islamic Law).Most diets and foods are considered to be Halaal unless Islamic Law specifically prohibits them.
Thus the term halal and haraam is concerned with more than just meat.

[mariam.]

Assalam alaykum

sister are you sure that These Chocolate are Non- Halal?

"This day are (all) things good and pure made lawful unto you. The food of the People of the Book is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them."(5:5)

please can you explain to me why it's non-Halal even if They started using Animal product rennet in it ...

Iam sorry but what you mean by rennet, is it from milk product?

is this news applied in the arabic cities which manufacture it?

[rahimah]

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. =)

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

(The above thread is about calf rennet and not rennet of any other animal. )
Thanks for your question dear sister, and we implore Allah to guide us all to that which is lawful and pure and to keep us away from that which is unlawful and impure.
As far as eating food containing animal rennet (rennet refers to a solidifying substance used- it is found in the stomach lining of some calves) is concerned, we cannot judge any food as haram unless it contains unlawful ingredients. In addition, one of Islamic juristic rules states: Permissibility is the original rule for everything until the contrary is proven.

Moreover, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said, “Allah has prescribed certain obligations for you, so do not neglect them; He has defined certain limits, so do not transgress them; He has prohibited certain things, so do not do them; and He has kept silent concerning other things out of mercy for you and not because of forgetfulness, so do not ask questions concerning them.”
I did some research to get some evidence and this was what i found out..
Rennet is an enzyme used in the food industry by curdling milk. Rennet extracted from the stomach of a calf or animal whose meat is Halaal (lawful) after slaughtering in accordance with Islamic Thabh is unanimously Halaal (permissible) for consumption. If the above mentioned animals were not slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law then there is a view that the rennet itself is Halaal but its consumption would be Haraam (unlawful) because of its contamination with impure moisture etc. found in the stomach of the animal. Rennet is fluid or viscous [running] and because of the penetration and saturation of impure moisture it would be impossible to purify it, therefore such rennet would remain Haraam.
The permissibility of rennet, therefore, is not really dependent on the slaughterer being Muslim or non-Muslim but upon whether there is life in rennet or not, and whether it absorbs the impurities found in the stomach of a newly born slaughtered calf.
However there is another viewpoint. According to Imaam Abu Hanifah the rennet of Halaal (permissible) animals which have not been slaughtered according to Islamic law is Ja’iz (permissible for consumption). Thus the animal which has been slaughtered by a non-Muslim is also one which has not been slaughtered according to Islamic law and therefore the rennet extracted from such an animal is Ja’iz.
Another reason for not consuming rennet is because the impure moisture found in the stomach of the animal can become pure products only because of chemical changes in industries. Thus to me it is inclined to accept the view that animal rennet is permissible as it is usually subjected to complete chemical process of transformation by which the ruling of impermissibility changes.
Based on this, it is allowed to eat food containing animal rennet. If you want to exercise caution, it is your choice.

I hoped i was able to help u sister. I myself found out alot when i did the extra research. If u wish to futher clarify maybe you would like to visit these websites.
http://www.islamonline.net/livefatwa...ewquestion&id=

“He hath forbidden you only carrion, and blood, and swineflesh, and that which hath been immolated to (the name of) any other than Allah. But he who is driven by necessity, neither craving nor transgressing, it is no sin for him. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful” (2:173).

Anyway dear sister if we were saying it is haraam it aint really worth looking with microscopes for the smallest molecule, since if you'd do so, you would find that anything and everything is haram, besides things are haram because they are bad for the health and not good for the person, but in trace amounts like that they have no effect really. For example ordinary milk has a small amount alchohol in it, but we all drink it anyway. There is a saying of the prophet (saw), i am not sure of the correct wording, but it goes something like, dont dig to much or everything will become haraam.

[Al-Hanbali]

Mars has abandoned plans to use animal products in its chocolate, and has apologised to "upset" vegetarians.

This was almost a month back.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6673549.stm

[rahimah]

my bad:blind:

[Kittygyal]

Salamualikum.
So whats the answer. Am sure mars and other chocolate gone back to basis.
Ma'assalama

[rahimah]

Wa alaykum salam sister...
yes the chocolates are halal once again

Hehe and bro thanks for the link. appreatiate it
(i probably wouldnt be eating it now if u didnt tell us.. hehe)

[BANANA]THE CHOCOLATES ARE HALAL ONCE AGAIN[/BANANA]

WHEEEEEEEEEEHEHEHEheheeeeeeeeee.
LOL.

[Kittygyal]

Salamualikum.
Old news but thanks
ma'assalama

[rahimah]

yeah tell me abt it.. [MOUSE]OLD NEWS[/MOUSE]
:blind: (I WAS REALLY BLIND!!)
will keep myself update though heehee

[Kittygyal]

Salamualikum.
Lol it happens at times get over it :X

Need a commercial break cya lata
ma'assalama

[rahimah]

yeah haha im so over it
at least im more knowledgable abt rennet..
i even have a milky dream abt cows last night!
waalaykum salam sis=)