Technology simplifies process of checking whether halal food is really halal

In May 2014 chocolate maker Cadbury found itself at the center of a media storm in Malaysia after tests found that some of its chocolate bars contained pork DNA. The company recalled the chocolate bars but insisted that all of its products were halal. After an official inspection and another round of tests found no problems, its halal certificates were reinstated in early June.

The episode highlighted the importance of halal testing but also the shortcomings of the technology. No system is entirely reliable, and false positives are an unfortunate fact of life. Testing processes tend to be complex, but the technology is developing all the time and easier-to-use tests aimed at consumers are now starting to appear.

Companies such as SCIEX and Thermo Fisher Scientific, both U.S.-based, have developed a number of techniques for commercial customers wanting to test for the presence of alcohol, pork or pork-based products such as gelatin.

CURRENT TESTS

The technologies they use include polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to see if there is any porcine DNA in the product and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which looks for particular proteins. Such techniques can find suspected ingredients even if they make up just 0.5 percent of the overall product.

However, they have their limitations. The DNA in some processed foods is so degraded that PCR tests cannot always identify them, and ELISA tests only detect one part of the protein rather than multiple protein markers, increasing the chance of unreliable results. \

More advanced, and more expensive, equipment uses mass spectrometry and gas and liquid chromatography. These tests are more sensitive, with the ability to spot errant ingredients at levels of just 0.1 percent or less.

The market for these technologies is made up of food manufacturers, halal certifying authorities and testing labs. Khalil Divan, marketing director for food and beverage at Thermo Fisher Scientific, says demand is increasing for the more advanced equipment, but there is still a role for the other tests.

“I don’t think one will replace the other, they are complimentary,” he says. “A lot of halal testing is done for quick screening methods to see if a product contains certain ingredients. For those uses PCR tests still have a role. But where mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography come into their own is when companies are looking for zero tolerance.”

PORTABLE AND FASTER TESTS

More portable testing kits are also available. Another U.S. company, PerkinElmer, has a kit that uses test strips and an extraction liquid to find evidence of pork. The test takes around 20 minutes and is simple to use, although the company says samples should also be sent to a lab for confirmation.

Last year the French company CapitalBiotech launched a range of single-use test kits for consumers. The strips are able to check for the presence of alcohol and raw, cooked or processed pork and take around 15 minutes.

Others are developing even faster techniques. Malaysia’s University of Selangor made headlines last summer when it said it was hoping to launch a one-minute test by December 2015.

UNTESTABLES

There are some things that cannot be tested for, however. Halal rules demand that an animal is slaughtered in a particular way and that halal food is kept away from haram products while being stored or transported.

No technology can test for such things further down the line so, despite the march of technology, some things still have to be taken on trust. Once that breaks down it can be hard to rebuild, as Cadbury has found. Even in November, five months after it was given a clean bill of health, the company was still dealing with the consequences.

“Consumers are still confused, and unsubstantiated allegations continued to linger in the media, including social media,” says Raja Zalina Raja Safran, head of corporate affairs for Cadbury Malaysia, in a statement issued that month.

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