Probably you guys never go to www.muslimconsumergroup.com a Halal/Not Halal food products web site in USA. We have recently put a information under the "News" section of web site that Gatorade do not contain any alcohol as a solvent in natural and artificial flavors according to information obtained from Gatorade Company, all its ingredients are Kosher certified and Halal and this product is Halal if made only in Gatorade plants but problem is they also use outside co-packer to make this products and their lines are not Kosher certified and there is possibility of contamination with Haram ingredients on the line if they make Haram products for somebody else. So the company can not gurantee, its Halal satus and also they are not providing information about plant coding system on package which tells where it was manufactured. Whatisinit.com has published a letter from Gatorade company to our organization Muslim Consumer Group for Food Product on their web site in 2001 when Gatorade Company was using alcohol based flavors in their products.
Minute amount of alcohol produced during ripenning of fruits naturally but fruits are not Haram, the problem is man made addition of alcohol to food products which can be avoided.
Islamic Scholars can not judge or recommend food products if they do not have food science education and experience in food industry, they can give advise to a food scientist if he or she explained to them how food products are made and how a ingredients is manufactured if the food scientist do not know the sharia rules.
Muslim Consumer Group for Food products is the first organization who brought the news of non zabiha beef extarct in McDonald French Fries natural flavor in 2001 on our web site and recommend Muslims not eat Mcdonald French Fries. We are not in the business of suing the food companies but recommend Muslims which food products are Halal and which are not Halal in supermarkets based on food technology and sharia rules. We are doing this service since 1991. It is possible that the person who sued Mcdonald got the information from our web site.
Your opinion is not correct, are you going to trust those 800 numbers operators and e-mails from the food companies who do not know what is Halal means, how could you trust them. It needs professioinal Muslims to guide Muslims based on their education in food science and their food industry experience. There only three Muslims food scientists in US who take the task of teaching US food industry about Halal foods requirements through professional food magazines. There only two Halal food web sites out of so many in US who run by US food industry Muslim food professionals. The food company provides information to their consumer affairs department for common consumer, for example they never provide alcohol information because every non Muslim consumer drink alcohol, it does not matter to them whether the food conatins alcohol or not. For specific group such as Muslims and vegetarian they have to get additional information from technical people within the company. You have to have ability to question in a right way to these consumer affair people. For example if you ask them "is there any alcohol in the food" they will look at ingredients statement and then say "No" because it is not there. Alcohol in flavor is a hidden ingredient, then you have to ask " is alcohol is used in flavors as a solvent" they have no information about it because only the flavor house who provide flavors to a food company and the technical people who formulate the products, QA and technical service people know about it because it is come with flavor specification or fact sheet which indicates which non flavoring solvent or carrier was use in the flavor. Carmine color comes from beettles and all insects except locust are Haram for Muslims of Hanafi Mazhab. FD&C colors in liquid form can be made with pork glycerin as a solvent, this information is not availbel at customer service departments.
So you need the help from professional Halal food web sites.
I respect your view. Perhaps it's better for many to use the websites and books, as they are quite comprehensive. I personally like to make phone calls and email whenever needed. I find it to be more reliable than depending on others' interpretations.
I find many sites are too quick to label products as halaal or haraam. Therefore, I find it best that I check out the ingrdeints and make the necessary calls for clarification.
You have to have technical background to evalaute the response from phone calls and e-mails reponses from food companies. I am guesing you may start consuming cheese if you find out that they use microbial enzyme rather than rennet but this not enough you will be still consuming haram products if whey made from pork rennet is used to feed starter culture bacteria added to milk for flavors, texture for dairy products before coagulating it with microbial enzyme. Yes there are some information can only get from fod companies such as alcohol presence or absence in flavors. The companies never tell commom consumer what they are adding as hidden ingredients which is allowed by FDA and refer as processing aid ingredients, the Frito Lay company never told their consumer that cheetose and Doritos are made on the same line where other prodcuts made containing pork derived ingredients. Burger Kings never tell their consumers that they use the same oil and same fryer to fry chicken nuggets, fish and pork patties.
Those who depend upon companies information may be eating food products containg ingredients derived from pork. If you are sick you go to doctor because he knows the diseases and cures, but you can not go to street person for treatment. It is same with Halal food products because food processing so technically complex you need professionals. You can not be the judge to consume food thinking it is Halal because you lack technical knowledge to judge the food companies responses.