Are Mcdonald’s Fries Halal In USA, UK, Canada and Australia?

Are Mcdonald’s fries halal? Mcdonald’s is a fast food chain that operates in many countries around the world, including countries with large Muslim populations.

As a result, the company has faced questions about whether its food, including its fries, is halal, or permissible for Muslims to eat according to Islamic law. Read on to learn more about this popular snack food and key ingredients!

Are Mcdonald’s Fries Halal?

No, McDonald’s Fries are not halal. In the United States, McDonald’s fries are not halal friendly. But, in other countries, McDonald’s uses different ingredients so their fries may end up being halal or halal friendly.

In general, halal food is that which is permissible for Muslims to eat or drink according to Islamic law.

This includes meat that has been slaughtered and prepared in a specific way, as well as other foods and beverages that do not contain any ingredients that are forbidden by Islamic law.

When it comes to McDonald’s fries, the company has made a number of statements and taken steps to address concerns about whether they are halal.

In some Muslim countries, McDonald’s has obtained halal certification for its fries, which means that they have been prepared and handled in accordance with Islamic law.

In other countries, the company has made it clear that its fries are not prepared according to halal standards and therefore may not be considered halal by Muslims.

Ingredients

• Potatoes,
• Vegetable Oil (Canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [Wheat And Milk Derivatives]),
• Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt.
• Natural Beef Flavor contains Hydrolyzed Wheat and Hydrolyzed Milk as starting ingredients.

We can see one problematic ingredient in that list is natural beef flavor. That makes it crystal clear that McDonald’s french fries might not be suitable for halal eaters.

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For decades, the famous fries were cooked in beef fat – that practice was fortunately stopped quite a while ago, and McDonald’s now uses a blend of vegetable oil.

However, that animal fat was replaced with a small amount of natural beef flavor thrown in the vegetable oil.

One might assume that beef flavor comes from the meat of a cow, and that might well be true.

If it states that the flavour is natural, which means that they used something derived from beef, then in this case, based on how they slaughtered meat in Western countries, it is not allowed to eat this product, because the basic principle concerning meat is that it is haram unless it is known or well-established that it was slaughtered according to Islamic rules, as the fuqaha’ have stated.

These meats may be deemed to be halal, either by finding out that they were slaughtered in the prescribed manner, or because that is thought most likely to be the case, or because that is what customarily happens.

The prevailing custom in Western countries nowadays is that the slaughter of meat is not done in the manner required by Islamic teaching.

This is something that is well-established for the Muslims who reside in those countries. Hence they do not eat meat except that which is labelled as having been slaughtered in the prescribed manner, or is labelled as “halaal”.

But if it is written on the packaging that the flavouring is artificial, then it is permissible to eat the fries in this case, because artificial flavouring is derived from something other than meat; it is taken from plants and other sources, and from artificial substances.

The basic principle with regard to substances is that they are halal and permissible, unless there is anything to indicate that they are haram.

Are Mcdonald’s Fries Halal In UK?

Yes, McDonald’s fries in the UK are 100% vegan so you may consider them to also be Halal friendly. The chips are made from potatoes and a blend of sunflower oil and rapeseed oil. They are cooked in dedicated frying vats separately from any animal products.

Are Mcdonald’s Fries Halal In USA?

No, McDonald’s Fries in the US are not suitable for Muslims because they contain beef flavoring which is unknown whether the beef is halal meat or not.

Other reasons that McDonald’s fries may not be considered halal in the US is that they are fried in oil that is also used to fry other items that are not halal.

This means that there is a risk of cross-contamination, and that the fries may come into contact with non-halal ingredients.

Are Mcdonald’s Fries Halal In Canada?

In Canada, McDonald’s fries could be considered as halal as they do not contain any animal ingredients. However, the McDonald’s Canada website says “No products are certified as halal; products may contain trace amounts of ingredients derived from animals.”

While McDonald’s fries are cooked separately from animal products in Canada, there’s no guarantee against cross-contamination.

Are Mcdonald’s Fries Halal In Australia?

In Australia, Mcdonald’s fries could be considered halal-friendly as they do not contain any animal ingredients. However, the fries may be cooked using the same equipment as products containing animals.

McDonald’s website states: “No food items are certified as halal. Whilst some ingredients may not contain animal ingredients, we cannot guarantee that there will be no cross contact with ingredients that do contain animal ingredients in our kitchens.“

If the country of manufacture is a Muslim country which use halal meat, then the Muslim does not have to research and enquire and ask about product that is permissible in and of itself, as it is unlikely that there will be any of these haraam things in it.

The following table should help you to decide whether McDonald’s Fries are halal friendly in your country.

Final Thoughts

If you are Muslim living in the U.S., then you should avoid McDonald’s fries. Manufacturers may change their ingredients at any time so please always double-check for yourself before purchasing anything.