Ingredient requirements
Every ingredient, additive, processing aid and carrier must be permissible. The obvious exclusions are pork and its derivatives, blood, and intoxicating alcohol. The less obvious ones are animal-derived ingredients whose origin is unclear: gelatin, glycerine, stearic acid, enzymes, rennet, whey, L-cysteine, carmine and shellac all need a declared source.
Alcohol used as a solvent in flavourings or extracts must be declared even when it evaporates during processing, because the review covers what went in, not just what remains.
Supplier documentation
- Specification sheets for each ingredient naming its source
- Halal certificates for any meat or animal-derived input, issued by a recognised body
- Statements from flavour and fragrance suppliers covering alcohol carriers
- For supplements: capsule shell material, gelatin source and excipient origins
Production and handling requirements
Certified products must not be contaminated by non-halal materials during production, storage or transport. In practice reviewers ask about shared production lines, cleaning procedures between runs, and whether non-halal products are made in the same facility.
For restaurants the requirements are specific: no pork and no alcohol served anywhere on the premises, and every meat input must already hold a recognised halal certificate.
What is outside GHC scope
GHC does not certify butchers, slaughterhouses or any slaughter process, and does not certify venues that serve pork or alcohol. Products in those categories need a slaughter-focused certifier before a finished-product certificate can be considered.
Frequently asked questions
What documents do I need for halal certification?
A full ingredient list per product, supplier specifications for each ingredient, halal certificates for any animal-derived inputs, and declarations for flavourings and processing aids.
Is alcohol always haram in products?
Intoxicating alcohol is not permissible. Alcohol used as a carrier in flavourings must be declared and is assessed by the reviewer; many brands switch to alcohol-free carriers to keep certification simple.
Do shared production lines fail certification?
Not automatically. Reviewers look at cleaning procedures and scheduling between halal and non-halal runs, and may ask for a documented cleaning protocol.
Do I need to certify every product separately?
Certificates are issued per product range within a category. Send your full product list and coverage is confirmed before the certificate is issued.