Doritos are one of the world's most popular snack foods and the number one selling chips in the United States.
Originally created by the Frito-Lay company in the 1960s, Doritos are tortilla chips coated with cheese powder, giving them their typical unique taste and texture.
That said, some consumers have questioned whether or not these tasty tortilla chips are halal and permissible to consume according to Islamic dietary law.
Doritos have been controversial lately due to their lack of halal certification, making it even more difficult for observant Muslims to decide whether it's halal or non-halal!
Read on to discover if Doritos are something you should be consuming as a faithful Muslim or not.
Quick question: Are Doritos Halal? Yes... and No! While some Doritos are completely halal and safe for consumption, others aren't.
To give a more precise answer, let's delve a bit deeper!
How to decide if your Doritos is Halal or Haram
Doritos has many ingredients: whole corn, vegetable oil, salt, cheese, whey, onion powder, sugar, garlic, dextrose, and natural and artificial flavour.
While some of these ingredients are halal, others, like whey protein or cheese, aren't.
Dissecting these ingredients reveals if the finished Doritos will be halal or non-halal.
Corn
Corn is the main ingredient for Doritos. It is cooked, soaked, rinsed, and grounded to form kernels used to make corn dough which is flattened to give Doritos its unique shape.
Corn is entirely halal!
Vegetable Oil
Vegetable Oil could be made from sunflower, canola, or corn. All of which are halal because they are of plant origin.
Cheddar Cheese
Cheddar Cheese contains milk, cheese cultures, salt, and enzymes.
Even if we ignore the manufacturing process, the presence of whey and rennet used in milk and cheese production makes it haram.
Except the processes are modified in countries like UAE, Qatar, and others.
Whey
Whey is an animal protein considered impure according to Islamic laws.
Hence it makes the Doritos haram!
Monosodium Glutamate
Monosodium Glutamate is the sole reason you consume a bag of Doritos without getting satiated. It aims at making you want more - and it is halal!
Natural And Artificial Flavour
Natural flavours are good and completely haram, but artificial flavours and colourings are sometimes used as a guise to cover some haram seasonings.
The Doritos are considered halal only when the artificial flavours and colouring are appropriately listed and shown not to contain any haram materials.
Dextrose and Lactic Acid
Dextrose is sugar added to give Doritos its unique taste. They are both considered to be halal.
Buttermilk
Buttermilk is similar to whey. The flavour causes you to salivate while munching your bag of Doritos crushing with just a little churn.
Buttermilk could be halal or haram, depending on how it was produced!
Disodium Guanylate
Obtained from seaweeds or yeast and could be either halal or haram, depending on where the yeast is grown.
Once grown on pork media, it becomes haram and shouldn't be eaten.
Disodium Inosinate
Disodium Inosinate is also used to enhance the rich taste of Doritos.
It is of animal origin, frequently pork, poultry, beef, and fish.
So while vegans are meant to abstain from products containing this, Muslims are meant to do the same as it is haram.
So whenever a haram ingredient is used in the production of Doritos, it automatically becomes haram. Therefore should not be consumed.
Mainly when it contains enzymes of an animal that is haram.
According to our research, animal enzymes, commonly referred to as animal rennet, are enzymes used by the food industry to curdle milk and make cheese. A calf's or another animal's stomach, often a pig's, is used to extract rennet.
Rennet is non-halal because it is usually obtained from pork, and slaughter methods are not always halal.
According to Islamic law, an animal is said to be halal if it's killed quickly with a sharp blade in a way that minimises the agony for the animal.
The throat ought to be severed quickly to drain out blood completely.
The animal must be Halal and healthy with the Tasmiya and Takbir recited.
Hence, any enzyme obtained from an animal slaughtered this way is considered halal.
Another factor is the seasonings used. If the seasoning or spice blend used to make Doritos is haram, then the Doritos itself becomes haram.
Islamic law prohibits the use of spices and seasonings made from haram animals.
The seasoning/spice has to be prepared to render it bloodless.
Onions and garlic are two examples of the foods and materials used to make seasonings that don't contain any animals considered to be haram.
The seasoning is halal if either onion or garlic is used, making it halal.
The production method is also a factor when deciding if a product is halal or haram.
Halal Doritos
We all know one of the priorities of every Muslim is enjoying their meals or snacks without breaking the halal rule.
Here are some halal Doritos you could consume as much as you want; Lay's Classic, Ruffles Original, Fritos, Tostitos, Original SunChips, and Rold Gold Pretzels.
Doritos BBQ and Doritos sweet chilli heat are also halal.
Any Doritos with Halal certification is halal and okay for practising Muslims to eat.
But at the moment, due to its predominance in the US and Canada, Doritos have not been halal-certified.
Before eating your Doritos or other chips, the best thing to do is to check the ingredient list.
Once it contains whey, rennin, gelatin or anything containing alcohol, pork or any haram material, you should do away from it.
Conclusion
Although a few Doritos are halal and okay for consumption according to Islam dietary law, their components, when accumulated, could cause lots of health problems.
So why risk your health and faith when you could get equally tasty snacks that are both healthy and halal certified?
Check out Chewwies products to get natural, halal-certified products that soothe your taste buds without having to pay for it with your health or beliefs.