Islamabad: National Assembly of Islamabad came into shock when they got to know Haram ingredients being sold in the country. The official informed that most of the imported packed food items being sold in the country contained Haram ingredients.
Haram (prohibited) ingredients are those ingredients whose source are from pork, pork by-products, alcohol and alcoholic beverages, human body such as human hair.
To give a clear picture to this issue the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Mian Ijaz, presented a list of 19 such items that contained Haram ingredients.
According to him, the ministry hasn't got such mandate to stop the sale of such products.
According to the data of the ministry, the items include ingredients like white and red wine, gelatine and E120 (animal-based food colour). Though stunning is strictly prohibited in Islam some of the food items that contains chicken have been placed in the list due to having doubts over the mechanism of slaughtering.
Some other products have been placed in the list due to lack of “proper source or traceability “so that the real status of the Halal/Haram” ingredients could be known.
A draft of the bill seeking establishment of the authority has been forwarded to the cabinet as well as to the Council of Common Interests for approval, after which the ministry can decide that edibles containing Haram ingredients are not sold in the country.
