Critical Point of Forbidden Sweeteners

Assalamu’alaikum Sobat Halal-Mu

Your Halal Friend, what is your first thought about sweeteners? Granulated sugar or brown sugar? Or artificial sweeteners that like to be added to food products or drinks that we often consume? Apparently, both natural sweeteners such as cane sugar, palm sugar, corn sugar or artificial sweeteners such as Aspartame, Siklamat, Saccharin, each has a critical point of forbiddenness. Before that, let’s see what the definition of sweetener is.

According to the Food and Drug Administration Regulation No. 11/2019 on Food Additives, there are 2 types of sweeteners. Sweetener is a BTP in the form of Natural Sweetener and Artificial Sweetener that gives a sweet taste to food products.

a.         Natural Sweetener

Natural sweetener is a sweetener that can be found in natural materials even though the process is synthetic or fermented. Examples of natural sweetener types according to the Head of the Food and Drug Administration Regulation No. 11/2019 on Food Additives are: Sorbitol, Mannitol, Isomalt, etc.

b.         Artificial Sweetener

Artificial sweetener is a sweetener that is chemically processed, and the compound does not exist in nature. The following are types of artificial sweetener according to the Food and Drug Administration Regulation No. 11/2019 on Food Additives, among others: Aspartame, Siklamic Acid, Saccharin, Neotam, etc.

In terms of halalness, natural sweeteners have a number of critical issues in the production process. Meanwhile, artificial sweeteners such as Aspartame have critical points in the manufacturing process.

Then what is the function of sweeteners?

Quoted from the Reference List of Halal Critical Point Ingredients and Non-Halal Substitutes by Prof. Dr. Irwandi Jaswir, MSc, Ir. Elvina A. Rahayu, MP, Dr. Nancy Dewi Yuliana, MSc and Dr. Anna Priangani Roswiem, MS. The function of natural and artificial sweeteners is to give a sweet sensation to the products they are added to. In natural sweeteners, in addition to sweetness, it also contributes caloric value for those who consume it, while artificial sweeteners provide low to no caloric value. Therefore, artificial sweeteners are intended for people with health problems such as diabetes, or obesity.

The ingredients used for natural sweeteners are sugar cane or other sources with fermentation or extraction processes such as steviol glycosides. For artificial sweeteners such as Aspartame is an ingredient made from the amino acids aspartame and phenylalanine. These two sources, the amino acids aspartame and phenylalanine, are the critical point of the product’s halalness.

The fermentation process in the manufacture of sugar and Phenylalanine which is the source of aspartame is usually obtained from animal hair. Therefore, the critical points of halalness must each be in accordance with the provisions of halal in Indonesia in accordance with the provisions of MUI.

That’s all Sobat Halal-Mu, hopefully this information is useful.