🍽️Halal food
Halal food follows Islamic dietary rules. In everyday practice this means no pork or pork products, meat from animals slaughtered in the halal way, and no alcohol in food. Personal standards differ, so this guide sticks to the practical side: reading labels and asking the right questions.
🔬What it means
For shopping and eating out, halal mostly comes down to three checks: is there pork or a pork-derived ingredient, where does the meat come from, and is there alcohol in the dish. Fish, eggs, dairy, grains, fruit and vegetables usually need no special checks beyond additives and cross-contact.
Whether meat is halal cannot be seen on the plate — it depends on how the animal was slaughtered and is confirmed by the supplier or a certification mark. A dish without pork is not automatically halal.
✅What you can eat
- 🥦Fruit, vegetables, grains, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds in their natural form.
- 🐟Fish, eggs and dairy such as milk, yoghurt and butter. Some cheeses are made with animal rennet; look for microbial or vegetarian rennet if this matters to you.
- 🥩Beef, lamb, goat and poultry from a halal butcher or with a recognised certification mark.
- 🍞Bread, pastry, soups and sauces made without lard, pork stock or wine.
- 🏷️Products with a halal certification mark — the certifier has checked the ingredients, their sources and how the product is made.
🚫What to avoid
- 🥓Pork in any form: bacon, ham, gammon, pancetta, prosciutto, lard, pork sausages, salami and chorizo (usually pork), pork crackling.
- 🥟Dishes where pork is common: carbonara, many dumplings such as pelmeni and gyoza, char siu, tonkotsu ramen, mixed-mince meatballs, pâtés, pies and pastry made with lard.
- 🍮Hidden animal sources: gelatine (often made from pork — check whether it is beef, fish or plant-based) in sweets, marshmallows, desserts and some yoghurts; emulsifiers such as E471, which can come from plant or animal fat; pork stock in soups and gravies.
- 🍷Alcohol in cooking: wine sauces such as coq au vin and bourguignon, many risottos, beer batter, mirin, vanilla extract (made with alcohol), tiramisu, rum baba, desserts with liqueur. Cooking does not always remove all the alcohol.
- 🍖Meat of unconfirmed origin: beef, lamb or chicken that is not from a halal supplier.
- 🍽️Cross-contact: shared grills, fryers, slicers and utensils used for pork — ask how the food is prepared.
- 🏷️Certification marks: standards differ between certifiers, so check which body issued the mark. When an additive's source is unclear, the manufacturer can usually tell you.
📱How Me Nutrition helps
Every dish in the app and on this site shows diet labels, including “no pork”, and the major allergens of a typical recipe, with the ingredient that decides it. The “no pork” label cannot confirm that meat is halal-slaughtered or that a dish is free of alcohol. Recipes differ, so always check with whoever cooked the dish.
Dishes that fit: 1971
Sources
Written from the sources below; not reviewed by a doctor. Not medical advice. How we count →