Flora Light-is it halaal?

[Ruks]

I was wondering if anyone has heard that Flora Light is haraam, because it contains pork extracts?

on the container itself it states that it is suitable for vegetarians and there is no mention of any animal by-products. Would there be any by-products in the flavouring? Please help!

[Felicity]

How do you know it contains pork extracts if it doesnt say? They say for some bread thats baked, there are pork enzymes used to help it rise, but these gets cooked off so they dont have to mention it.

[Al-khiyal]

Salam, ya Ruks,

Flora Light is halal in the UK, but Flora Lighter than Light (formerly Flora Extra Light) isn't. In Australia the products include gelatin, made from pork extracts, so are not halal there.

It seems that this reply to a question posed by an Australian Muslim triggered a 'global panic':

Thank you for contacting Flora.

We are always interested to hear from our consumers and welcome your comments and enquiries.

The gelatine used in Flora Light and Ultra Light Spreads is derived from pork.

Flora Original does not contain any gelatine.

We thank you for your communication and hope this answers your enquiry.

Kind Regards
Sue Connolly
Consumer Relations Team
www.Unilever.com.au
Aus - 1800 888 997 NZ - 0800 900 028

[Ruks]

I emailed Unilever (makers of Flora) and they haven't replied back to me yet.

I checked the legislation in the uk for about what can be classified as vegetarian and i also read alot of the stuff on the UK's vegetatian society website.

A lot of things in the UK can be labelled 'suitable for vegetarians' but contain some by-products of animal. In fact alot of wine has animal by-products in it. some instore supermaket bakeries do line their bread baking tins with animal fats - i don't know which ones. best to ask each individual stores.

if the ingredient is less than 2% in the whole of the product then it is not required to list it on the ingredient list.

some friends said to me - although i didn't really believe it. But now I'm a bit dubious about it all.

[Al-khiyal]

Salam ya Ruks,

The Flora UK (Unilever) response (in the first link above) read in full:

"We would like to clarify that the vegetarian suitability information in question was intended as a guideline for Flora consumers in Australia only. You will find ingredients differ from country to country because our products are tailored to domestic demand and taste. I can confirm that Flora Light sold in the UK is suitable for vegetarians as it doesn’t contain pork gelatin. We have recently re-named our Flora Extra Light to Flora Lighter than Light. Although the name has changed, there has not been a formulation change and it remains unsuitable for vegetarians."

[Ruks]

Thanks al-Khiyal. I'm still waiting for my reply from Unilever.

[Ruks]

just in case anyone wants to know, Unilever did respond back. Flora Light doesn't contain any pork gelatine, but Flora Extra Light does. so there you have it folks. Personally, i stick to more natural things like butter!