No Pork, No Lard and No Mirin? Is it HALAL?

Assalamu’alaikum Sobat Halal-Mu

Sobat Halal-Mu, do you like to eat at restaurants with the concept of all you can eat or what we usually call AYCE. Usually the AYCE concept restaurant lists No Pork and No Lard. What are pork and lard? Pork is pork and lard is lard. Then there are also some restaurants that list No Mirin. So what is mirin? Mirin is a Japanese seasoning in the form of a yellow alcoholic liquid similar to wine. Usually mirin is mixed in some Japanese specialties such as sushi. And in AYCE restaurants, many meat menus are usually marinated using mirin to remove the fishy smell of the meat. In addition, many meats are also marinated with cooking sake. Sake is a fermented white rice that is also used to remove the fishy taste of fish and meat which usually also contains alcohol.

Based on the definition of some of the ingredients above,  is No Pork No Lard and No Mirin definitely halal? The answer is not necessarily halal. Then what ingredients are added to the menu to be served, for example in Japanese restaurants many menus contain shoyu which has alcohol content. In addition, the process of storing meat and other ingredients must be separate from forbidden ingredients. Then for AYCE restaurants there is a dessert menu, so it is certain that the menu does not use rum as one of the ingredients. In terms of thayyib, the production process and storage are free from Najis from animals such as cockroaches and rats or not.

Halal is not only about pork, but also the process of slaughtering the meat, whether it is done in a slaughterhouse that has implemented Islamic slaughter or not. Then the cooking process must also be considered. Are the tools used together to prepare food with non-halal ingredients? The concept of halal food is related to the way of processing, the ingredients used, and the fulfillment of certain conditions stipulated in the Al-Quran and Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad SAW.

So No Pork, No Lard and No Mirin does not guarantee that the restaurant is halal. The best solution is to choose a restaurant that has official halal certification. Restaurants that go through a strict certification process from BPJPH can guarantee that the process of preparing and serving food meets halal principles. Let’s be more aware in consuming what goes into our bodies so that what we eat is good for the body and halal food that is allowed to be consumed by us is in accordance with the food rules set out in Islam.

Halal is Our Need, Our Quality and Our Choice!