Re: Alcohol in Food
silly comparison: running red lights isnt allowed because there's traffic coming in a contrary direction, therefore doing so is risking collision. yes, if it's the middle of the night, one could foreseeably run a red light, but if everyone ran a red light every time they thought it was clear it is inevitable that statistically the number of crashes is going to go up because more people are taking a bigger risk. there is NO RISK of intoxication involved in eating beer battered fish & chips, wine-flavoured sauces or alcohol-based medicines. a person could eat beer battered fish & chips every day for a year and never become intoxicated.
put this into perspective: if you go to a restaurant which is serving meals which include as an ingredient beer or wine, presumably this restaraunt is also serving alcoholic drinks, yes? whether you ask for them to leave alcohol out or not, your money is going to them, therefore your money is helping them promote haram lifestyles and helping push society in an non-islamic direction. avoiding anywhere which sells alcoholic drinks is a far more sensible interpretation of alcohol being haram than avoiding foods which simply use alcohol as an ingredient, which is pointless.