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HALAL ISSUES ON THE USE OF BLOOD IN FOOD PRODUCTS

Article Summary

What is blood? Blood is a specialized fluid that plays a vital function in transporting the cells that exist in both human and animal bodies. Plasma i sthe liquid portion of the blood which contains electrolyte, nutrients, vitamins, hormones, clotting factors and proteins.

Blood

What is blood?

Blood is a specialized fluid that plays a vital function in transporting the cells that exist in both human and animal  bodies. Plasma i sthe liquid portion of the blood which contains electrolyte, nutrients, vitamins, hormones, clotting factors and proteins.

Islamic view on the use of blood in food products

Allah s.w.t says in the Qur'an, Surah Al-Ma'ida (5:3): " Forbidden to you (for food) are : dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine , and  that on which hath been invoked the name of other than Allah". This clearly insists that blood is prohibited to be consumed by the Muslim as it is  considered to be filthy and harmful. From the Islamic  point of view, there are two types of blood;  circulated blood (i.e: fish, prawn, grasshopper)  which is premitted to be consumed .With regard to this, Ibnu Abbas (r.a) was once asked about spleem. He replied that it is allowed to be consumed as it not categorized as the unlawful blood [1].

Halal issues on the use of blood in food products.

There are many food products that have high tendency to be incorporated with blood. For instance , in sausage preparation, the animal blood is cooked with  a filler (meat,fat wheat) until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. In this case, pig and cattle blood are most often used. Besides, blood is also used as a thickener in sauces and puddings due to its  ability to provide flavour or colour in meat. Additionally, blood has been used  as part of the broth for soups and stews. Furthermore, meat blood plasma either in concentrated or hydrolysed form has been used as ingredients in surimi-based products to increase its quality. A group of researchers reported that meat-plasma protein concentrate is able to improve the gel forming of surimi[2] and caused increased torsional shear stress and strain of the gels of surimi. The improvement of functional  propoerties of surimi by the addition of meat-plasma is concluded to be due to the inhibition of proteolytic enzymes activity[3]. Due to the vast application of blood in food products, Muslim consumer are prone to fraud and adulteration. Food suppliers tend to incorporate blood in their food products for economic purpose without proper labelling. This has increased Muslim consumer awareness towards the sanctity of the food products being sold nowadays.

 

References ;

  1. Imam Al-Ghazali, Halal dan Hatram Dalam Islam, 2007,Berlian Publication.
  2. Ng.M. C., Lee, H.K., Sophonphong, K., Rungjiratananon, S., Kongpun, O., Suwannarak, W and Low, L., K. 1996, Utilization of Lizardfish, Saurida tumbil, for Surimi Production. Proceeding of the Seminar on the Advances in Fish Processing Technology in Southeast Asia in Relation to Quality Management, Singapore 29 Oct-1 Nov 1996. MFRD-SEAFDEC, Singapore.
  3. Park, J. W. 1994 Functional Protein Additives in Surimi Gels, J.Food Sci, 55:525-527

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