You are at a party in need of refreshment. You go to the table, grab a glass, and choose what to drink. Among many different beverages, one of them will probably be Pepsi.
Pepsi is one of the most popular and beloved drinks that always seems to find its place at the table. While at some point you have probably contemplated whether to drink Pepsi or something else, you might have never wondered whether Pepsi is halal or haram.
If you want to know whether Pepsi is permissible to consume according to Islamic law, read this article to find out.
What is Pepsi?
It is a beverage that doesn’t need any special introduction. Pepsi, produced by PepsiCo, is a carbonated soft drink. The company produces many different types of food and beverages and they pride themselves in making them nutritious and delicious.
While we are all familiar with the original Pepsi flavour, there are also many others to choose from:
- Pepsi Zero Sugar
- Diet Pepsi
- Nitro Pepsi
- Nitro Pepsi Vanilla
- Pepsi Mango
- Pepsi Zero Sugar Mango
- Pepsi Wild Cherry
- Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry
- Pepsi Zero Sugar Wild Cherry
- Pepsi Real Sugar
- Pepsi Caffeine Free
- Diet Pepsi Caffeine Free
What are the Main Ingredients of Pepsi?
Even though the exact recipe for Pepsi beverages is a closely guarded secret, the ingredients are always listed on the packaging.
The main ingredients are as follows:
- Carbonated water
- High fructose corn syrup
- Caramel colour
- Sugar
- Phosphoric acid
- Caffeine
- Citric acid
- Natural flavour
Other than the listed ingredients, Pepsi Zero Sugar and Diet Pepsi contain:
- Aspartame
- Potassium benzoate (preserves freshness)
- Acesulfame potassium
- Panax ginseng root extract
- Calcium disodium EDTA (to protect flavour)
PepsiCo said that they do not produce beverages specifically for the halal diet and their products are not halal certified. They added that they do not require their suppliers to disclose halal suitability.
However, as we can see from the ingredient list, Pepsi drinks do not contain any alcohol or any ingredients of animal origin. It would appear that Pepsi drinks are halal.
If you are interested in products that you can be sure are halal, you can always opt for companies such as Chewwies which produce 100% halal gummy vitamins.
It might be interesting to mention that PepsiCo said that all of their drinks are vegan, apart from diet Pepsi but they refuse to explain why diet Pepsi isn’t suitable for vegans.
After closely looking at the ingredient list, we have not found any ingredient that might suggest animal origin. Since they have decided not to disclose the secret ingredient, we can not with absolute certainty say that diet Pepsi is halal.
Conclusion
According to their ingredient list, none of the Pepsi drinks contains any alcohol or any ingredients that are of animal origin so the majority of Pepsi drinks are 100% halal. Diet Pepsi might or might not be halal, but the rest of the Pepsi products are permissible to consume according to Islamic restrictions.
As we all know, Pepsi goes great with chips. You can check which chips are halal and enjoy those two treats together.
However, the company said they always work on making their products better and they do not produce beverages specifically for the halal diet, so, just to be sure, you should always check the ingredient list.
And just to be sure you are consuming healthy halal products, discover our delicious gummies.