We are in the days when we experience the summer season with all its intensity. We are searching for cold food and drinks at any moment. In this search, whether we want to or not, gelatin, which is used in the production of almost all products of western origin, attracts our attention.
Gelatin: Gelatin is a collagen protein produced by partial hydrolysis from the skin, connective tissues and bones of animals such as cattle, sheep, poultry, fish and porks.
Gelatin, which is the trade name of collagen, is used as a gelling, thickening, glazing, encapsulating agent in products. It is used in many pastry products, dairy products such as yogurt, ice cream, melted cheese and margarine; meat and its products such as ham, salami, sausage; sweets such as marshmellows, jelly, caramel; fruit juices, fruit and vegetable glazing, chewing gum, as well as in pharmaceutical production, capsules, film tablet production, blood donation products, skin and hair cosmetics such as cream, lotion, shampoo, perfume. It is also used in carbonated paper making, photography.
The change in the transformation of collagen into gelatin has been likened to the boiling of a liquid egg into a solid egg. According to those who adopt this view, the only process here is the change of the hydrogen bond in the alpha helix structure. However, this process did not turn the egg into a different substance. Therefore, there can be no improvement in the transformation of collagen into gelatin, only differentiation in physical and chemical properties occurs. As a result, if the animal itself or its slauter that is the source of collagen is not halal, gelatin is also not halal.
Even bovine gelatin, is it obtained from a cattle slaughtered in accordance with the Islamic procedure? This section also needs to be investigated. Under the conditions we are in today, raw materials are taken from many slaughterhouses as mixed. It poses a serious problem for Muslim consumers. Türkiye is such a Muslim country that, unfortunately, we know with pain that thousands of pigs are also slaughtered in its slaughterhouses. Again, we also know that tens of thousands of cattle are slaughtered without complying with the conditions of halal slaughter. Therefore, we do not recommend its consumption. All additives, including the additive you have mentioned, are substances that western modernity has made indispensable by adapting them to our daily life. If we are determined to live our Islamic life without endangering it, we should stay away from consuming the products in which these additives are used.
