Is it halal? Scan the barcode and know in two seconds.

Yes. HalalFoodScan is completely free to download, needs no account and has no sign-up wall. It runs on iOS 16.0 and later, is about 19 MB, and works on iPhone and iPad.

The barcode is a unique product number. The app reads it, retrieves that product’s declared ingredient list, then matches every ingredient and E-number against a halal classification database. The strictest additive determines the verdict, so one pork-derived ingredient makes the whole product haram, no matter how clean the rest is.

Mushbooh (مشبوه) means doubtful. It is used when an additive can be of plant, animal or alcohol origin and the label does not state which. It is not a ruling that something is forbidden. It is a statement that the information needed to rule is missing, and it usually resolves as soon as you find a vegetarian mark, a certification logo, or an answer from the manufacturer.

In normal production: E120 (carmine, from insects), E542 (bone phosphate), E904 (shellac, from insects) and E1510 (ethanol). E441 is gelatine, which is haram when porcine. A larger group, covering E422, E470 to E483, E570 and E631, is Mushbooh because those additives can be made from either plant oil or animal fat.

E471 is Mushbooh, not automatically haram. It is an emulsifier made from fatty acids that can come from plant oils, in which case it is halal, or from animal fat including pork, in which case it is not. Standard labelling does not say which. A “suitable for vegetarians” mark on the same pack resolves it immediately.

Use the ingredient scan tab instead. Point the camera at the printed ingredient list on the back of the pack and the app reads the text directly, extracting the additive codes it recognises. This works for local bakery items, store brands and products with no barcode at all.

No, it depends on the source. Pork gelatin is haram. Beef gelatin is halal only if the cattle were slaughtered according to Islamic requirements, which most industrial gelatin is not. Fish gelatin is halal. Unlabelled “gelatine” is doubtful and, in Europe and North America, is porcine more often than not.

Barcode lookup works wherever the product is in the database, with the best coverage in Europe and North America. Everywhere else, the ingredient scan feature works on any label, because E-numbers are written identically in every language, so E471 is recognisable on a Thai, Japanese or Turkish pack.

Scholars differ. Intoxicating drink is unambiguously prohibited. Trace ethanol used as a solvent in a flavouring is disputed: the stricter position treats any added alcohol as prohibited, while many contemporary scholars permit non-intoxicating residual amounts from a non-khamr source. Vinegar is permitted by the majority under the transformation principle.

The analysis is only as good as the declared ingredients, and it has real limits: it cannot verify slaughter method, cannot see cross-contamination on shared production lines, and cannot resolve differences between madhhabs. That is why the app shows you which additive triggered a flag and why, rather than just a colour, and why a halal certification mark on the pack is a stronger signal than any ingredient analysis.