Are Cheetos Halal Or Haram In Islam?
Are cheetos halal? Cheetos are a popular snack made of flavorful crunchy maize puffs that are now sold worldwide. This snack comes in a variety of types and flavors, providing a unique eating experience for each taste. Because of their popularity, you may be wondering if Cheetos are halal.
Hot Cheetos is a well-known food that many people enjoy, but the question we’d like to discuss is if it is halal and permissible to consume.
Are Cheetos Halal In Islam?
No, Cheetos are not halal. Depending on where they are produced, some Cheetos may include animal enzymes and flavours, making them not halal. We can’t say Cheetos are always haram. In fact, the rennet used in the cheese found in Cheetos is what makes them haram. Rennet contains animal enzymes that are typically not slaughtered.
Cheetos also include whey, which is often derived from pork. Making Cheetos haram for Muslims once more. An example of an animal enzyme used as an ingredient is that which comes from a pig, referred to as pig enzymes or porcine enzymes.
According to Muslim scholars, if rennet is taken from an animal that has been slaughtered according to Shariah, then it is pure and can be eaten. If the rennet is taken from an animal that dies naturally, or that was not slaughtered in accordance with Shariah, it is impure and should not be eaten.
Are Hot Cheetos Halal?
No, hot Cheetos are not halal. PepsiCo Confirms that Hot Cheetos and the regular Cheetos are not Halal because of the animal enzymes used. They said snacks that list “cheese” and “whey” as ingredients in their chips should be avoided, because the source of those ingredients are not necessarily halal.
M Mahmood – Strategist & Consultant contacted PepsiCo/ Frito Lay as you can see the queries and answers below.
Here’s the email they sent to PepsiCo.
We reached out PepsiCo / Frito Lay, the parent company of Cheetos and Doritos to inquire what were the enzymes used in their products i.e Animal or Plant based.
Most consumers who consume Halal or Vegan, do not consumer animal based products. See reply and most current update as of July 06 2021.
Their Consumer Relations Representative Responded to them saying:
Hi,
Thank you for writing.
Most of the cheeses in our seasonings, including Doritos Nacho Cheese and Cheetos Crunchy Flamin’ Hot, are made with animal enzymes, similar to cheeses sold in the grocery store. If you want to avoid these enzymes, you might want to avoid our snacks that list “cheese” as ingredients. Only a few snacks have animal flavors and they will be listed on the ingredient statement, not hidden under “natural flavors.”
The snacks on the dairy section of our Kosher list are free of animal flavors and animal enzymes. For items not under the dairy sections, they can contain animal ingredients, but will be called out in the ingredients if used.
Our non-seasoned, salted-only snacks, such as Lay’s Classic, Ruffles Original, Fritos, Santitas, Tostitos, Original SunChips and Rold Gold Pretzels, do not have enzymes of any kind.
I hope this information helps! Best regards, Bethany PepsiCo Consumer Relations Reference # 068947901A
Are Cheetos Puffs Halal?
No, Cheetos Puffs are not halal. This is because they use animal-derived rennet in the cheese. The company states that they use animal enzymes in their cheese. As stated above, if animal-derived rennet is taken from an animal that has been slaughtered according to Islamic Shari`ah, then it is pure and can be eaten. If the rennet is obtained from an animal that dies naturally or was not slaughtered according to Shari’ah, it is impure and should not be consumed.
Are Flamin Hot Cheetos Halal?
No, Flamin Hot Cheetos are not halal. All we know is that Cheetos do not contain pork, but do contain unspecified animal rennet. No Cheetos products are halal-certified, however the rennet might theoretically come from halal-slaughtered animals or not.
But, in all likelihood, this is not the case. If Cheetos were made with halal cheese, it would most likely be splashed all over their website in order to appeal to a wider audience. Furthermore, it can be difficult to source halal-certified cheese, especially in large quantities.
Are Crunchy Cheetos Halal?
No, crunchy cheese flavoured snacks are haram and impermissible to consume due to the cheeses in the seasoning being made from animal enzymes.
The enzymes in the cheese are made from animal rennet. The Cheetos website says some of these enzymes could also be from pork. But even if it’s not pork, most scholars agree that the rennet comes from an animal that was not slaughtered in a halal way is not considered halal.
Is Cheetos Halal In Pakistan?
Yes, Cheetos are halal in Pakistan. In Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, their Cheetos doesn’t contain pork or porcine enzymes due to their adherence to Muslim dietary laws. All ingredients used in Cheetos are 100% Halaal certified by SANHA website which is a government approved Halal Certification body.
Conclusion
To summarize, Cheetos can be both halal and haram depending on where you live. Cheetos’ ingredients determine whether it is halal or haram. If you live in North America or another non-Muslim country, Cheetos are most likely not halal because the animal enzyme used is prohibited.
If you live in a Muslim country, however, Cheetos will be halal for you due to the halal ingredients used.
And Allah Knows Best.
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