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 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… 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… Cont…

Halal is a Qur’anic 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

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.

The lives of every Muslims, including their dietary requirements, are guided by Shariah Law

Cont…

“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-Baqarah:Al Quran Surah Al-Baqarah:

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*Plant

Processing

Handlinge.g. slaughtering

Processing/Unit Operations*Preliminary operation*Conversion operation

*Preservation operation*Product development

Ingredient &Additive

Handling

Packaging

Storage

Transportation

Storage & Distribution

Consumption

I

Issues in Halal Food Production

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, JAKIM’s 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 pig’s 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

JAKIM’s Halal Laboratories

UPM’s 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

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 Malaysia’s vision to be a Global Halal Food Hub

Cont…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

Cont…

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

1018.0 1010 1000 990 980 970 960 950 940 929.00.0300.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

0.35

0.40

0.45

0.500

Wavenumber (cm-1)

Ab

sorb

ance

(A

)

0% lard20% lard40% lard60% lard80% lard100% lard

b

                            

                            

                            

y = 3.3191x + 0.2462

R2 = 0.979

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

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)

FT

IR v

alu

e o

f la

rd c

on

ten

t in

sh

ort

enin

g (

g)

FTIR Calibration Model                            

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)

VaporPrintTM

1% lard 3% lard 5% lard

7% lard 10% lard 100% lard

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

DNA EXTRACTION

PCR AMPLIFICATION

PCR-RFLP

SPECIES IDENTIFICATION

FOOD SAMPLES

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

M1 : 100bp Ladder Marker

1 : Mutton’s meat

2 : Cow’s meat (beef)

3 : Chicken’s meat

4, 5, 6, 7 : Pig’s meat (pork)

10: Chicken’s fat

11, 12, 13, 14 : Pig’s fat

M2: 1kb Plus Marker

≈360bp

228bp

131bp

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

228 bp

131 bp

500 bp

≈360 bp

Restriction Enzyme Analysis of PCR Amplified Cytochrome b Gene (sausages)

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

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

1 2 3 4 5

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

ELISA Results

A1- positive control; B1 and C1- negative controls; D1- mutton, E1- beef; F1- chicken meat, G1, H1, A2 and B2-pork; C2- mutton fat; D2- beef fat; E2- chicken fat; F2, G2, H2, A3- lard; B3, C3 and D3- chicken sausages with different brands;

E3, F3 and G3- beef sausages with different brands; H3 and A4- pork sausages with different brands; B4 and C4- unknown sausages; D4, E4 and F4- unknown casings; G4, H4, A5 and B5- bread with different brands;

C5 and D5- biscuits with different brands; E5- homemade biscuit with 1% lard; F5- homemade biscuit with 50% lard; G5- homemade biscuits with 100% lard.

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