Review Ethanol and its Halal status in food industries Jawad Alzeer a, b, * , Khaled Abou Hadeed a, b a Department of Chemistry, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland b Halal Certification Services, Salinenstrasse 18, 4310 Rheinfelden, Switzerland article info Article history: Received 21 April 2016 Received in revised form 5 August 2016 Accepted 26 October 2016 Available online 5 November 2016 Keywords: Ethanol Vinegar Halal Haram Fermentation Food abstract Background: Ethanol is an important organic solvent and substrate which extensively used in research and industries. It is the main ingredient produced during fermentation of carbohydrates derived from fruits and other biomass substances. Halal status of ethanol is controversial and it is rational use is ambiguous. Scope and Approach: In this review the issue of ethanol in food industries is addressed. Ethanol is a sensitive, controversial and main issue in the production of Halal (Permitted, Allowed) products. Setting the limit of ethanol in Halal food industries is needed to facilitate food production and complied with certain religious demands. This review gives an overview of ethanol, types, application, advantages and disadvantages. An attempt to set a limit of ethanol in food industries, supported by scientific facts and Islamic rules, is described. Key Findings and Conclusion: Halal status of ethanol is highly controversial but rarely classified based on its source and concentration. Any ethanol produced by anaerobic fermentation and ranging between 1 and 15% is considered to be Haram (non-Halal, Forbidden), whereas ethanol produced by natural fermentation and less than 1% is considered as preserving agent and its Halal status is allowed. Any ethanolic solution higher than 15% is treated as a toxic solution but still could be used in industries, meanwhile ethanolic solution prepared by dilution from absolute or denatured ethanol is allowed for industrial used but toxic for human consumption. However, any concentration varied from 0.1 to 100% prepared with intention to be used as beverage drink is consider non-Halal. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Since the beginning of recorded history, a complex relationship between human and ethanol was developed. This complex relation continues today, probably because of its being the essence of wine and the intoxicating ingredient in many beverages, and one of the most important chemicals available to industry. The solvent power of ethanol makes it particularly useful for extraction of valuable natural products from plant and animal tissues (Park, Kim, Kim, & Song, 2015). As an industrial raw material, ethanol is involved in the manufacture of adhesives, toiletries, detergents, explosives, inks, chemicals, hand creams, plastics, paints, thinners, textiles, vinegar and other (Equistar, 2003). Two types of ethanol are pro- duced worldwide, namely fermented and synthetic ethanol. Fer- mented ethanol (bioethanol) is produced from corn or other biomass material (Erdei, Hancz, Galbe, & Zacchi, 2013; Gnansounou & Dauriat, 2005; Vijayalaxmi, AnuAppaiah, Jayalakshmi, Mulimani, & Sreeramulu, 2013), mainly used for fuel, though a small part is used by the beverage industry. Synthetic ethanol is produced from ethylene, a petroleum by-product (Chu, Echizen, Kamiya, & Okuhara, 2004), and is used mainly in industrial application (Yue, Ma, & Gong, 2014). As alcohol is extensively applied in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and other industrial applications, there- fore Halal status of alcohol used in industries need to be subjected for discussion. Ethanol is a controversial and main issue in the production of Halal products (Khattak et al., 2011). Traditionally, consumers and Islamic jurist have identified ethanol as non-Halal (Haram, forbidden) substance, and hence Halal certified products are usually alcohol free. In this review, we will highlight the ad- vantages and disadvantages of ethanol, meanwhile compare the alcohol content in fruits and deduce alcohol limit for Halal pro- duction. Quran was revealed that, alcohol contains some good and some evil, but the evil is greater than good: “They ask you about intoxicants and games of chance. Say: In both of them there is a * Corresponding author. Department of Chemistry, University of Zurich, Win- terthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. E-mail address: jawad.alzeer@chem.uzh.ch (J. Alzeer). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Trends in Food Science & Technology journal homepage: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/trends-in-food-science- and-technology http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2016.10.018 0924-2244/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Trends in Food Science & Technology 58 (2016) 14e20