So I’m fairly liberal when it comes to eating non halal foods, I pretty much watch out for gelatin and a few other things. I’m learning though that theres potential for a lot of non halal ingredients in things I didn’t even realise. For example baked goods such as cake mixes such as Betty Crocker contain monoglycerides and diglycerides which can be derived from either animals or plants. The cake mix doesn’t specify they are vegetable diglycerides and from my research it seems commercially they are usually derived from animal sources. So there’s really no way for me to know. I was going to buy a cake for someone else who does do the halal thing, but I’m not sure they take it this far? Is anyone here that strict about halal ingredients in food?
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
I try my best to avoid all the controversial ingredients. There are so many choices available in toronto that eliminates the need for consuming non halal items. I avoid buying anything non halal for other people even if i know that they do eat non halal items just because i think that if i am buying something and i know it is not halal, the gunah would be mine as i knowingly provided it.
Ps. there is a really good iranian bakery at yorkmills and leslie may be you can try it out.
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
I don't eat anything that I haven't checked for being halal. We won't eat anything without 'suitable for vegetarians' on it as the minimum, and will also check it for any alcohol content. With bakery items that are not packed or have no list of ingredients you can never be sure that they are 100% halal, it's best to ask the producer. Where there is any doubt I'd avoid the item.
We were gifted a box of chocolates recently... a family member checked the ingredients 'just in case' as a lot of chocolates here have alcohol in them. They had alcohol in them so we gave them to our goreh neighbours and they were really pleased lol.
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
for us here in the uk , its been made easy … all stuff tagged “suitable for vegetarians” is safe for us to eat !
so we try to look for that sign on everything we buy … some of the stuff like cheese or stuff imported from Europe may not have that sign so we try to read through the ingredients , if there is anything controversial , we dont buy it , werna hum mazai sai khatay petay aish kertay hein 
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
good to know, yeh I didn't feel quite right about giving someone else something because they would assume I'd done my due diligence, but it makes it very tricky because I know betty crocker cake mixes weren't certified as vegetarian and even ice cream cakes could have alcohol or other non halal ingredients I'm not aware of. Unfortunately, I don't live in the GTA so its a lot harder to get halal stuff in hicksville but I guess there's always making things from scratch.
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
try searching from here www.consumergroup.com
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
We're pretty careful and my kids are even more careful so before buying cookies and stuff, they're sure to check for all known questionable ingredients. We buy our meats from a Pakistani butcher who carries only certfied halal zabiha stuff. We don't buy meat from Costco/other stores where you can get the halal stuff but you don't know the background...maybe it's a little obsessive but my point is that when what we feel comfortable with is readily available in abundance then why just "settle."
Regarding other ingredients, if I come to know about something, I stay away from it or if I have my doubts, I call up and check.
So yeah, I think we're pretty serious about this stuff.
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
Very far! I have even called up companies if I have a doubt about an ingredient in a food item..
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
I think I am pretty careful and serious about this issue and try my best to stay away from anything I have doubts about.Rest Allah knows best.
I even called up Enfamil to make sure it was halal.
Similac says so on its cans/plastic containers.So when it was recalled and I had to switch to Enfamil I made sure it was halal too.I never had a clue that infant formula can have this issue too....:(
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
We care more about it being halal, than zabiha. So we buy our chicken/ beef from the normal grocery store and sometimes from the butcher.
Only when we have a party in the house, we have all halal zabiha meat from the Muslim butcher.
My parents never found this to be a big deal, even though they’re far from liberal Muslims. I’m going to read up on this topic more. But before that I need to stop eating lucky charms 
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
While living in the UK the meat I bought was always halal. As far as the halal/non-halal ingredients go I wasn't very picky over that. I guess people who have grown up in the west are accustomed to checking out all the groceries they buy, I'd never done that my entire life and at one point I ended up eating canned beef ravioli which I thought was just plain ravioli. My cousin told to me watch out for the green V sign on products. Other than that I never checked on bakery items like cookies, I'm only hearing in this thread that they could have non-halal ingredients. I heard the marshmallows you get with your hot chocolate aren't halal either, although I ate plenty of those without knowing it.
Here in Pakistan we pretty much take everything being halal as granted although there is every chance we have many non-halal products in the market. For example the OP mentioned Betty Crocker, we get that here too (imported of course) and my sister's made those cakes plenty of times. Countries like Saudi Arabia had a stringent system of checking all imported goods for being halal but I'm not so sure Pakistan has any such controls in place. Hell you can't even be sure your butcher's Muslim, I've heard even Christian butchers here will say Bismillahi Allahu Akbar while zibah-ing because it's simply the custom of the butcher profession here.
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
Gelatin the one word I HATE. Why does all the best sweets have gelatin in them! arrgh!
I had some halal sweets and they were so crap. Life sucks.
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
As far as i can take it. U are what u eat.
Plus... All info is at ure fingertips, just have to have the will or desire to know. Better to be sure than eating doubtful stuff. Dont think the excuse "oh but i thought this is what U meant" : puppy dog eyes: will hold in front of HIM. :d
We get our meat from the turlish butcher and chicken from the desi store...there is no zabiha jiggle miggle here...its only halal if its been slaughtered in god's name and that is what the meaning holds for here in denmark. Otherwise its comsidered haram. So u cant eat chicken bought from the local grocery store.
Up until last yr we could eat all cheeses, candies etc..life was so easy.... But now they started to add gelatine from animal source so we r left to sad halal candies... :( and cheese u gotta check too now. And bread! For sharab.
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
Very far. Halal/Zabiha/Kosher/Vegan only. In Pakistan theres no such issue yet though...
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
yeh I never even thought about it that much, I always bought halal meat but recently I realised that vanilla extract had 35% alcohol and so was considered pretty much haraam, and since then I've been looking it up and there are tons of additives such as emulsifiers, whey, etc. which can be present in pretty much any item you buy and while they can be plant based they can be derived from animals too and its pretty hard to check.
I'm going to try and be a little more careful myself now I guess. Thank god for vegans though, they're one of the reasons why there are so many products on the market which you can make sure have no animal ingredients.
I've also realised that there's vegan sugar, the reason being that there are 2 kinds of sugar out there and the one kind, cane sugar, is filtered through activated carbon which may be of animal, vegetable or mineral origin. Would you consider this non halal, and look for only sugar extracted from beets?
Also how do you know what ingredients can be halal or non halal? Like I never knew about sugar or emulsifiers, etc, how are you supposed to keep up to date with what products are used in what things? I mean I never even thought to check if my bread was halal or not.
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
I've also realised that there's vegan sugar, the reason being that there are 2 kinds of sugar out there and the one kind, cane sugar, is filtered through activated carbon which may be of animal, vegetable or mineral origin. Would you consider this non halal, and look for only sugar extracted from beets?
Also how do you know what ingredients can be halal or non halal? Like I never knew about sugar or emulsifiers, etc, how are you supposed to keep up to date with what products are used in what things? I mean I never even thought to check if my bread was halal or not.
That IMO is going too far. If I had to start checking my bread and sugar then I'd rather not live in a foreign country.
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
I go pretty far. I avoid vingums as they have gelatine in them, instead I buy them from a turkish shop where they import from Turkey. Cookies and baked goods are also checked for doubtful ingrediences, but if it says suitable for vegetarians or only vegetable fat, I dont go any further (apart from checking for alcohol). I usually buy from specific brands so I am aware of what I eat.
Meat, we only eat lamb, which is bought from a halal-butcher, I think here halal=zabiha (from the last thread thats what I got to). I do buy chicken from the local grocery store if it has a Halal stamp on it (I prefer it is from a specific brand (Rose poultry or Danpo) which export chicken to Saudia Arabia, if they have said ok to it, I dont see why I should make my life harder).
Same goes for cheese and other products, if they are being exported to SA, I dont hesitate in buying it.
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
Sweetmoi… I find it so stupid how the same company will have stamps on chicken legs but not on this or breasts… Halal stamps… I dont buy it if it doesnt have the stamp but it leaves me confused…murghi ki bss taangein halal hui and not the rest?! Lol …ive noticed it with rose 
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
Very far ...
UK has a million halal meat shops, they sell frozen nuggets burgers sausages etc ...
and in terms of everything else ' suitable for vegetarian' tag is what we look out for!
restruants - there are SO many halal restruants in london. You'd be suprised :), expensive posh restruants use halal meat to ( some of them) i have been to almost every posh restruant in london that uses halal meat! ( being with my fiance for 4 years we tried out alot of food places on our dates :) )
BUT
i am a sucker for haribo's. :( i do eat occasionally.. halal ones are yuck!
Re: How far do you take the halal/non halal issue for food?
Haha, I have seen that too. If it doesnt have a stamp I dont buy it, just for my own sake. And you’re right, Rose are not as consistent as Danpo, dont know what is better lol… I just want Haribo to go gelantine free so I can eat all those vin gums .. totally obsessed with that haha!