Are Rice Krispies Halal?

To know whether or not rice krispies are halal, we reached out to the most popular rice krispies brand, Kellogg’s. We are unable to speak for all companies that make rice krispies, and therefor chose to analyze the most consumed rice krispies brand produced in the US.

For Rice Krispies to be considered halal, the Gelatin Source must be from an animal that was slaughtered in accordance to Islamic law. For Example, Kellogg’s Famous Rice Krispies are not halal and their Gelatin sources are not clear. However, there are halal rice krispes that can be purchased easily!

Table of Contents

1. We Contacted Kellogg’s To Find Out If Their Rice Krispies Are Halal
2. Ingredients used to make Rice Krispies
3. Halal & Gelatin Free Rice Krispies Alternatives
a. Baker Foods Halal Crispy Treats, Marshmallow and Crispy Rice
b. Annie’s Organic Original Crispy Snack Bars

We Contacted Kellogg’s To Find Out If Their Rice Krispies Are Halal

We reached out to Kellogg’s to find out if their popular rice krispies are halal or not. We reached out to them by saying:

Hello,

Hope Your day is going well.

I wanted to know if any of the Rice Krispies offered by Kellogg’s are halal? if not, what is the ingredient used that does not qualify it to be halal? Is the Gelatin used derived from pork or beef?

I am mainly concerned with Rice Krispies® sold in Canada and US.  

Thank you, much appreciated!!

Halal Guidance Team

Kellogg’s responded back by saying:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting us about if our bars are Halal and what the gelatin is derived from.

We are aware of the growing interest in products certified as halal and we will continue to evaluate halal certification.
◾At this time we do not offer halal-certified products in the (United States / Canada) due to procurement of our ingredients and the manufacturing of our products.
◾We appreciate you reaching out to us to share your interest.

The gelatin in all flavors of Kellogg’s® Rice Krispies Treats® and Kellogg’s® Rice Krispies Treats® Snap Crackle Poppers™ may be from either beef or pork. We use both and cannot verify which was used.

Thanks again for taking the time to reach out to us. We appreciate your interest in Kellogg’s Rice Krispies® cereal and hope you have a great day. 

We’re always here to help.

Kellogg Consumer Affairs

We were not too concerned about them not having a halal certification because many foods sold in the US are not halal certified (because the company has not invested in obtaining a halal certification) but the ingredients they use are halal by nature. A good example of this would be OREOs.

As for the second point made in their email, their consumers affairs representative was unable to confirm whether the Gelatin is derived from pork or beef. Having said that, we were left with somewhat of an ambiguous answer.

We tried dig in a bit deeper and found a blog, written in August 2017, stating that the CEO at that time confirmed that Gelatin used in Kellogg’s rice krispies are derived from Beef Gelatin (source). However, we could not vet the validity of that source, we just included it since it was part of our research.

With that said, Gelatin from beef must be slaughtered in accordance to islamic rules for a food to be considered halal. At this time, we have no confirmation that Kellogg’s uses Halal beef Gelatin.

Other than the Gelatin used to make Rice Krispies, we wanted to take a look at the ingredients to make sure there’s nothing else that may cause Rice Krispies to be non-halal.

Are The Ingredients Used To Make Rice Krispies Halal?

We found the list of ingredients on their site (source):

• Toasted rice cereal (rice, sugar, salt, malt flavor, niacinamide, reduced iron, vitamin B2 [riboflavin], folic acid)
• Corn syrup
• Fructose
• Vegetable oil (soybean and palm oil with TBHQ for freshness)
• Sugar
• Corn syrup solids.
• Contains 2% or less of vegetable glycerin
• Dextrose
• Gelatin
• Natural and artificial flavors (contains milk)
• Salt
• DATEM
• acetylated monoglycerides
• Soy lecithin
• BHT for freshness

While we’re not food scientists, we could not identify any ingredient (other than Gelatin) that made us question whether or not their rice krispies are halal or not.

We wanted to see if there were any other alternative to their Kellogg’s rice krispies that did not contain Gelatin or any questionable ingredients. Here’s what we found:

Halal Rice Krispies & Gelatin Free Alternatives

1- Halal Crispy Treats, Marshmallow and Crispy Rice

Halal crispy treats, made by Barakat Foods, is a great halal alternative to the everyday brand of Rice Krispy. The Gelatin used to make these treats are 100% Halal (also says so on the packaging).It’s also made with halal marshmallows.

Check out Barakat Foods’ Halal Rice Crispy on Amazon (link to Amazon)

2- Annie’s Organic Original Crispy Snack Bars

Annie’s Crispy Snack Bars are branded as a healthier and more natural rice crispy alternative to what’s in the market. We wanted to double check their ingredient list to make sure there was no Gelatin or other ingredient that made it questionable.

Check out their ingredients and see if you’re comfortable enough to eat it!

• Organic Tapioca Syrup
• Organic Rice
• Organic Cane Sugar
• Organic Quinoa Crisps
• Organic Butter (organic cream, lactic acid)
• Organic Navy Bean Flour
• Sea Salt
• Gellan Gum
• Organic Brown Rice Syrup
• Organic Natural Flavor

From our understanding of their company, Annie’s is a line of organic and vegetarian foods. There shouldn’t be any animal, animal bi-products, or synthetic ingredients in anything they make.

Check out Annie’s Organic Original Crispy Snack Bars on Amazon (link to Amazon)