Cochineal food coloring from halal perspective : a fatwa analysis in several Asean countries

Abstract EN

The colourants used in today’s food and beverage products are not only made from natural herbs or chemical substance, but also from animal-derived substance including insects.

one of them is cochineal insect which produces red dye and it is largely consumed in the food and cosmetic industries.

as such, the muzakarah jawatankuasa fatwa majlis kebangsaan bagi hal ehwal ugama Islam Malaysia and Majelis Ulama Indonesia have issued a fatwa on the consumption of cochineal in food as permissible (halal).

however, the mufti department of Brunei Darussalam has issued a fatwa to the contrary i.e.

not permissible (haram).

the existence of conflicting fatwas in halal and haram issues may cause confusions among Muslim consumers.

this article aims to analyse fatwas on cochineal-based colourants in selected Asian countries namely Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

document-analysis will be the method for this research.

the research outcome indicates that there are factors that contribute to the differing fatwas i.e.

differing understanding of the uncleanness status of insect carcasses whose blood does not flow, the use of different fatwa elicitation methodologies between countries, and the consideration on whether its use is good or bad for the consumers.

efforts towards standardisation of fatwa can be done at the Asian country levels via empowerment of halal supervisory body i.e.

mabims, whose membership include Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore.