Uncategorized - Halal Guidance

Photo Credit: Thomas Angermann When I was a kid, growing up in the Middle East, having Twizzlers at lunch at school felt like living like a king. People would see those Twizzlers strings as currency. However, moving to North America had me questioning whether I could continue the good times and enjoy my fair share of Twizzlers. This is because Muslims ought to pay extra attention to common ingredients used in North America, such as Pork, alcohol, Carmine and other everyday ingredients that are not permissible (halal) for Muslims to consume. I did my research by contacting Hershey's (Twizzlers parent company) and looked at the ingredients list to determine whether Twizzlers are Halal for Muslims to eat. The Original Strawberry Twizzlers and most Twizzlers flavors are halal. However, Twizzlers gummies are not Halal. This is according to The Hershey Company consumer representative as well as the ingredient list. Table of Contents:1- We Asked Twizzlers Parent company If Twizzlers Are Halal So That You Don't Have To2- Do The Ingredients TWIZZLERS Twists Strawberry Flavored Candy Make it Halal?3- TWIZZLERS Gummies (Peach & Cherry, Grape & Cherry, Lemonade & Cherry) is Not Halal4- List Of All Halal Twizzlers Flavors5- List of Non-Halal Twizzlers Sold in the USA & Canada We Asked Twizzlers Parent company If Twizzlers Are Halal So That You Don't Have To To feel confident about whether Twizzlers are halal for Muslims to eat, we reached out to a representative over at The Hershey Company. FYI, The Hershey Company (The same folks who make Hershey's chocolate) also own the Twizzlers brand. I reached out to Twizzlers to find out whether the following Twizzlers candies in North America are halal or not: TWIZZLERS Twists Strawberry Flavored Candy TWIZZLERS PULL 'N' PEEL Cherry Flavored Candy TWIZZLERS Twists Rainbow Candy TWIZZLERS Gummies Original Flavors Candy Here's what I asked them: Hello, Hope your day is going well. I wanted to know if the following Twizzlers candy's are halal or not: TWIZZLERS Twists Strawberry Flavored Candy TWIZZLERS PULL 'N' PEEL Cherry Flavored Candy TWIZZLERS Twists Rainbow Candy TWIZZLERS Gummies Original Flavors Candy If they're not halal, do you know which ingredient makes it non-halal? Thanks, Adam Adam - Halal Guidance They responded quite promptly with the following: Thank you for reaching out about our TWIZZLERS Candies. With regard to your inquiry, none of our TWIZZLERS products are currently Halal-certified.Ethyl alcohol can be used as part of the extraction process or as a carrier for both artificial and natural flavor. Natural flavors are derived from natural sources but can still have carriers as part of the composition in order to “deliver” the flavor to a food. In addition, the gelatin ingredient in some of our candy (such as the TWIZZLERS Gummies) is sourced from pork.Currently, we do not prohibit our ingredient suppliers from using animal derived ingredient/by products in their manufacturing processes. For this reason, unfortunately, we are not able to provide a list of vegetarian products.We hope this information helps you determine if these products are suitable for your dietary requirements. We appreciate your interest in TWIZZLERS! Sincerely, The Hershey Company Consumer Representative - Date: 30th of January 2023 Given Twizzlers response, it's clear that some of their candies contain pork gelatin. However, their response was rather broad because they did not indicate which flavor does contain Gelatin. Therefore, I decided to check the ingredient list of each Twizzler flavor. Do The Ingredients TWIZZLERS Twists Strawberry Flavored Candy Make it Halal? We've compiled a list of ingredients found in the original Strawberry TWIZZLERS Twists to find out whether their most popular flavor is halal or not. Here's what we found (source): Corn Syrup Enriched Wheat Flour Niacin Ferrous Sulfate Thiamin Monoitrate Riboflavin Folic Acid Sugar Cornstarch CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: PALM OIL; SALT, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR; CITRIC ACID; MINERAL OIL; ARTIFICIAL COLOR (RED 40); LECITHIN (SOY) Based on the ingredients lists of the Original Strawberry Twizzlers, I was unable to pinpoint any non-halal ingredient. In my opinion, the Original Strawberry Twizzlers are Halal. However, always proceed with caution. Just because it is not halal certified, it does not mean it is haram. It simply means that Hershey's did not pay to have it halal certified by the right organization in North America. Furthermore, according to Hershey's, the original Strawberry Twizzlers are tagged as Kosher (source). TWIZZLERS Gummies (Peach & Cherry, Grape & Cherry, Lemonade & Cherry) is Not Halal Photo Credit: Like_the_Grand_Canyon While the Original Strawberry Twizzlers are considered Halal, Twizzlers Gummies are not. After carefully reviewing the email I received from The Hershey Company consumer representative and checking the ingredients list, it is safe to say that Twizzlers Gummies are not Halal. Here's the Twizzlers Gummies ingredient list: Sugars (Corn Syrup, Sugar) Gelatin (derived from pork as per The Hershey Company email response) Citric Acid Malic Acid Natural And Artificial Flavours Sodium Citrate Mineral Oil Carnauba Wax Allura Red Tartrazine Brilliant Blue Fcf List Of All Halal Twizzlers Flavors Sold in the USA & Canada Since my contact with The Hershey Company informed me that the Gelatin found in Twizzlers are derived from Pork, it's safe to say that any Twizzlers that does not contain Gelatin should be halal. However we double checked the ingredients for each Twizzlers candy mentioned below to double check. Here are all the Halal Twizzlers sold in North America (USA & Canada) Twizzlers Bites Cherry Flavored Candy Twizzlers Easter Bunnies Cherry Candy Twizzlers Filled Bites Strawberry Flavored Candy Twizzlers Filled Sweet & Sour Cherry Kick Citrus Punch Candy Twizzlers Filled Twists Key Lime Pie Flavored Candy Twizzlers Filled Twists Strawberry Smoothie Flavored Candy Twizzlers Filled Twists Sweet & Sour Candy Twizzlers Nibs Black Licorice Candy Twizzlers Nibs Cherry Flavor Twizzlers Pull n' Peel Cherry Flavor Twizzlers Pull n' peel watermelon Flavor List of Non-Halal Twizzlers Sold in the USA & Canada JOLLY RANCHER & TWIZZLERS Assortment Twizzlers Gummies