Mars now using animal rennet
The Guardian: A Mars Bar a day? No longer an option if you are vegetarian
It's not a rumour this time - I'm well aware how annoying these food rumours are which do the rounds on mailing lists and forums from time to time, but ...
It has been announced that the company behind the Mars bar are to start using animal rennet in their confectionery, including Mars itself, Twix, Milky Way, Snickers and Bounty. Some scholars, particularly Hanafis, say this means the bars are still halaal. Others, particularly those outside the Hanafi school, say that rennet must come from an Islamically slaughtered animal to be halaal.
However, since they no longer qualify as suitable for vegetarians, it also leaves open the possibility that the company may move on to using other animal-derived ingredients, such as meat-derived fats. The reader might make up his or her own mind.
Comments
No more Snickers for me! Its a real shame and a step back for alot of people incl. muslims. O well, its time we junked the junk food anyway; this is as good a time to start as any...
Posted by: Rasheed | May 15, 2007 5:44 PM
A work colleague says that he was listening to a radio discussion about this and a rabbi and a muslim were on the discussion panel. Strangely the rabbi said that after some investigation he believed that Mars would still be kosher, yet the Muslim said that it wasn't halal???
Posted by: Kashif | May 16, 2007 2:31 PM