RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN

HALAL FOOD ANALYSIS

YAAKOB B. CHE MAN, Ph.D

INSTITUTE OF HALAL FOOD
Universiti Putra Malaysia

In conjuction with the Annual General Meeting of MIFT,

20 May 2006, Subang Jaya, Selangor
 Introduction
Increasing awareness of Muslim consumers on
their religious obligations creates greater
demand for halal food and other consumer goods

~ 2 billion Muslims out of > 6.5 billion world

population

Majority are in OIC member countries

Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC)
 Cont

Trade in halal food is enormous - estimated annual

halal food value ~ USD 347 (RM 1,317) billion globally

Lucrative market and huge opportunities for halal food

business - domestic and international trade

Many companies are looking at halal concept as a

new tool for marketing
 Cont
Halal is a Quranic term meaning permitted, allowed or
lawful. Halal when used in relation to food and other
consumer goods, means permissible for consumption and
used by Muslims

Haram is the opposite of halal.

Shubhah or Mashbooh, means doubtful or suspected

Halal and haram are serious matters in Islam

 Cont
The lives of every Muslims, including their dietary
requirements, are guided by Shariah Law
Shariah Law means Islamic Law based on the
Quran, Hadith, Ijma and Qiyas
A particular food or other consumer product
becomes halal or haram if it is considered so
through any one of the above mentioned sources
or Fatwa (religious rulings) issued by competent
Islamic Authorities.
 Al Quran Surah Al-Baqarah:

O ye people! Eat of what is on earth, Halal and

good; and do not follow the footsteps of the Evil
One, for he is to you an avowed enemy.

(Verse 168)
 Al-Quran Surah Al-Maidah
O ye who believe! Forbid not the good thing which
Allah hath made Halal for you, and transgress not.
Lo Allah loveth not transgressors. Eat of that which
Allah hath bestowed on you as food Halal and
Good, and keep your duty to Allah in Whom ye are
believers.

(verse 87 88)
 Hadith Bukhari and Muslim
Halal is clear and Haram is clear; in between these
two are certain things that are shubhah (suspected).
Many people may not know whether those items are Halal
or Haram. Whosoever leaves them, he is innocent
towards his religion and his conscience. He is, therefore,
safe. Anyone who gets involved in any of these suspected
items, he may fall into the unlawful and the prohibition.
This case is similar to the one who wishes to raise his
animals next to a restricted area, he may step into it.
Indeed for every landlord there is a restricted area.
Indeed the restrictions of Allah are the unlawful (Haram).
 Cont

Ensuring food and other consumer products

authentically halal is obligatory for every Muslims

Hence, certification and verification of every item for

halal compliance by competent Islamic Authorities,
such as JAKIM, is extremely important
Halal Food Production - From Farm to Table

Farm

Raw material:
*Animal Processing
*Plant

Handling Ingredient &

e.g. slaughtering Additive

Handling
Processing/Unit Operations
*Preliminary operation
*Conversion operation
Packaging
*Preservation operation
*Product development
Storage Storage & Distribution

Transportation Consumption
Issues in Halal Food Production
Raw materials animal or plant origin/imported
Slaughtering according to Shariah/stunning
Processing operations/equipment x-contamination
Packaging/Storage/Transportation (containers and
vessels)
Food ingredients and additives
Pig and its by-products (e.g. pork, lard, gelatin)
Enzymes (e.g rennet)
Emulsifiers (e.g. E471 or mono- & diglycerides)
Alcohol (ethanol)
Biotechnology and GMOs (genetically modified
organisms)
Safety and quality aspects (aspect of Thoyyiba)
Cont

Halal is not just end-product certification but

involves approval of all ingredients and all food
processing at every stage of the production
from farm to table concept
Cont

Due to breathtaking technological development today

and the diversification of sources acquired globally for
food processing and production - various kinds of
processed foods are available in the market
It is very challenging and increasingly difficult for
Muslims to ensure halal status of food in the market
This trend has raised concerns among Muslim
consumers regarding new processed food
Cont

Food is only halal if the entire food chain, from

farm to plate, is processed, handled and stored
in accordance to Shariah or Islamic Guidelines,
e.g MS1500:2004, JAKIMs Guidelines, Codex
Alimentarious etc.
 Adulteration of Food

Adulteration is an issue of major concern in the food industry

globally
Adulteration of value-added food products - involving the
replacement of high cost ingredients with lower grade and
cheaper substitutes
Adulteration of food products can be very attractive and
lucrative for food manufacturers or raw material suppliers
 Adulteration with Porcine-based
Products
In some countries, food manufacturers choose to
blend vegetable fats with lard to reduce production
cost
Lard could be effectively blended with other
vegetable oils to produce shortening, margarines
and other specialty food oils
In other instances, adulteration with porcine products
could be unintentional
 Al-Quran Surah 2: Verse 173

He has only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and

the flesh of swine and that on which any other name
hath been invoked besides that of Allah. But if one is
forced by necessity, without willful disobedience, nor
transgressing due limits, - then is he guiltless. For Allah
is oft-forgiving, most merciful.
 Cont

Many fraudulent and deception cases reported

worldwide involving adulteration of haram ingredients
in halal food (especially porcine-based products),
misuse of halal label, etc
E.g. In the U.K., Food Standards Agency conducted
test for adulteration and authenticity of chicken using
ELISA and DNA-PCR methods.
Test including samples with halal label revealed that
chicken were adulterated with pig derivatives
 Recent Issues of Processed Halal
Food Fraud in Malaysia
Non-halal (pork) moon cakes with halal logo
Pigs and chicken stored together
Issue on bread using lard
Brushes using pigs bristle (fur) in cake and bread
preparation
Minced pork with halal label
Sausages with non-halal casing, expired halal
certificate and old halal logo
etc
Cont

In the past, many Muslims may have

consumed processed food claimed to be halal
but adulterated with non-halal ingredients and
additives

Food producers/manufacturers/food service

providers should be more sensitive and
responsible to label their products.
 Challenges in Halal Food Analysis
Halal food is sensitive and serious matter to Muslim

With many fraudulent issues around, more stringent monitoring

should be established by the Islamic Authorities.

Authentication and verification for halal has become one of a

major challenges in analysis of processed food

At present, very limited analytical methods available for halal

food verification

Rapid and reliable methods are urgently needed for detection of

non-halal components (e.g porcine origin) in food products
 Cont
Currently, Chemistry Department (MOSTI)
is the official laboratory doing all halal food
analysis
Received request for halal verification from
various quarters :
JAKIM
KPDNHEP
Ministry of Health
Jabatan Agama Islam Negeri
Private companies
etc
Cont

Current Methods of Analysis used for Halal

Food Authentication
DNA-Polymerase Chain Reaction
DNA-sequencing
Gas Chromatography FAC/FAME and TAG Analysis
Microscopic determinations
Chemical Testing
 New Initiatives on Halal Food Analysis

JAKIMs Halal Laboratories

UPMs Halal Food Institute
National Reference Laboratory for Halal Products
 Institute of Halal Food, UPM

Approved by Ministry of Higher Education and

officially set up in 1 June 2005 in UPM
Cont
Objectives:

to carry out R & D on halal food production

to develop new methods for halal food analysis
to provide professional services on halal food related
matters
to actively contribute together with other agencies
towards achieving Malaysias vision to be a Global
Halal Food Hub
Cont

IMH developed several new analytical approaches for

detection of halal food adulteration

Since porcine-based products are widely used in food

and is the biggest issue in halal food, we are
developing techniques for detecting pork and lard in
some food items claimed to be halal
Development of Potential Methods for Detection and
Monitoring of Halal Food
Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy
Electronic Nose (E-nose) technology
Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)
Molecular Biology techniques
 FTIR Spectroscopy
Food samples (chocolate, cake, biscuits) were
analyzed to identify the differences in FTIR spectra
profiles

FTIR technique combined with chemometric analysis

was able to detect and quantify the level of lard
adulterated in food samples (3% detection limit)

Offers rapid (results in 2 min), simple, accurate,

reliable, and environmental friendly tool
 Expended view of region 990-950 cm-1
0.500
b
0.45

0.40
0% lard
0.35 20% lard
Absorbance (A)

40% lard
0.30 60% lard
80% lard
0.25 100% lard

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05
0.030
1018.0 1010 1000 990 980 970 960 950 940 929.0

Wavenumber (cm-1)

FTIR Calibration Model
70

60

FTIR value of lard content in shortening (g)

50

40

y = 3.3191x + 0.2462
30
R2 = 0.979

20

10

0
4 6 10 12 14 18 22 28 34 36 40 42 44 46 50 52 54 60

Actual weight of lard content in shortening (g)

 Electronic Nose (E-nose) Technology

An instrument, which comprises an array of electronic
chemical sensors and appropriate pattern recognition
system, capable of recognizing simple or complex
odor or smell

This technique was applied to monitor the presence of

lard in food sample such as cooking oil

Qualitative identification of adulterated oil is possible

by the characteristic 2-dimensional olfactory images
called VaporPrint TM
 SAW detector response vs time. Pure RBD palm olein (pink)
overlay with RBD palm olein adulterated with 5% lard (black)
1% lard 3% lard 5% lard

7% lard 10% lard 100% lard

VaporPrintTM
 Cont
E-nose is an interesting alternative choice which
offer easier operation, rapid determination (1 min),
and give reliable results

It is possible to detect any adulteration with the

characteristic aroma fingerprint of each sample (1%
detection level)

This electronic nose could fulfil the need for rapid

detection of lard adulteration in food
Differential Scanning Calorimetry
Thermoanalytical technique for monitoring changes in
physical or chemical properties of material by
detecting the heat changes

Thermogram profile show the presence of lard in food

sample

Relatively simple, accurate and minimum amount of

sample needed
DSC Thermogram
 DNA-based technique

DNA technique is a favorite approach for species

identification because DNA is relatively stable even
after processing

We developed method for species identification from

pork and lard samples using PCR analysis of a
conserved region in the mt cyt b gene

The analysis yielded excellent results for identification

of pig species in samples
 SPECIES FOOD
IDENTIFICATION SAMPLES

DNA EXTRACTION
PCR-RFLP

PCR AMPLIFICATION


M1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 12 13 14 M2

M1 : 100bp Ladder Marker

1 : Muttons meat
2 : Cows meat (beef)
360bp
228bp 3 : Chickens meat
131bp 4, 5, 6, 7 : Pigs meat (pork)
10: Chickens fat
11, 12, 13, 14 : Pigs fat
M2: 1kb Plus Marker

Restriction Enzyme Analysis of

PCR Amplified Cytochrome b Gene
(raw meat and fat samples)
 M A1 A2 A3 D1 D2 D3 K1 K2 P1 P2

500 bp

360 bp
228 bp

131 bp

M-1Kb DNA ladder

A1, A2 and A3- sosej ayam berlainan jenama
D1, D2 and D3- sosej daging lembu berlainan jenama
K1 and K2- sosej babi berlainan jenama
P1 and P2- sosej yang tidak dikenalpasti

Restriction Enzyme Analysis of PCR Amplified

Cytochrome b Gene (sausages)
 Protein-based technique

ELISA is used to determine the level of antibodies in a

sample and useful because they are specific and are
relatively simple to perform.

We developed method for detection of pig derivatives

qualitatively in the food samples using ELISA technique

The analysis yielded excellent results for detection of pig

derivatives in samples
 ELISA Results
1 2 3 4 5
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H

A1- positive control; E3, F3 and G3- beef C5 and D5- biscuits
B1 and C1- negative controls; sausages with different with different
D1- mutton, brands; brands; E5-
E1- beef; H3 and A4- pork homemade biscuit
F1- chicken meat, sausages with different with 1% lard;
G1, H1, A2 and B2-pork; brands; F5- homemade
C2- mutton fat; B4 and C4- unknown biscuit with 50%
D2- beef fat; sausages; lard;
E2- chicken fat; D4, E4 and F4- G5- homemade
F2, G2, H2, A3- lard; unknown casings; biscuits with 100%
B3, C3 and D3- chicken sausages G4, H4, A5 and B5- lard.
with different brands; bread with different
brands;
 Conclusion

Halal and haram are sensitive and serious matters to

every Muslim
Properly processed and certified halal food is
pertinent to capture the lucrative halal food market

Adulteration and contamination of non-halal

components are major concern in food processing
and production
 Cont
Development on methods of detection adulteration are
urgently needed for halal food verification and certification
New analytical methods of analysis developed by our
research group is simple, rapid and reliable for detection
of pork and lard in food and other consumer products
These analytical methods have potential to be utilised by
halal food authorities responsible for authentication of
halal food such as JAKIM
 Cont

We hope these advances would contribute to the

credibility of Malaysian Halal Certification Programme
THANK YOU & WASSALAM