Technical Review on Vinegar Fermentation Process and Physiochemical Properties of Vinegar Product Based on Shariah and Scientific Perspectives

Abstract

In recent years, the world has begun to understand the importance of halal food and other edible products for Muslims. The market for certified halal food products is flourishing, both domestically and internationally. It is the duty of every Muslim to ensure that what they consume is produced from halal sources. Issues on the permissible amount of alcohol content in halal vinegar were raised since vinegar is considered a halal fermented product for consumption. In Islam, alcohol is produced from several fruits through the process of fermentation such as takhammur (wine making) and takhallul (vinegar making). Every country has their own standard in determining the permissible alcohol content to be considered halal. The maximum alcohol level for Halal standards in ASEAN countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand is only 1%, while in Singapore, the benchmarked level is at 0.5%. Other countries like Brunei, Canada and the United Kingdom prohibits the presence of alcohol in their halal food. This paper is a review about the literature relating to the halal vinegar understanding according to Shariah and scientific perspectives, physiochemical properties of commercial vinegar content based on previous studies by other researchers, as well as the changes of alcohol and acetic acid content during fermentation stages in vinegar making. Basic physiochemical requirements will be highlighted such as alcohol content, total acidity (TA) for acetic acid content, total solubility (TS) and pH. This study proposed the integration of methodology between Shariah and scientific perspectives to identify the permissible level for Halal vinegar and to expand the existing literature by conducting a profiling study on permissible vinegar according to Islamic Law.