Will the products of "Masterfoods" company enter a phase of prohibition for Muslims, after its announcement of replacing plant-based ingredients with animal-based ingredients (stomach enzymes) in the manufacturing of its sweets?
Animal-derived ingredients in food, if sourced from a permissible animal slaughtered according to Islamic rites (dhabiha), are permissible without doubt. However, if they come from a carcass, a prohibited animal, or an animal not slaughtered Islamically, yet they transform into another substance through processing, then the preponderant opinion is that they become permissible and pure. But if they do not transform or are not processed, they remain impure and forbidden for use.
Ingredients of unknown status or source are generally considered permissible, due to widespread affliction (umum al-balwa) and the unknown origin, and because they are usually processed. If there is doubt about whether they are pork fat, one must avoid them, in accordance with the hadith: "Leave that which makes you doubt for that which does not make you doubt."
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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