Progress and challenges in halal authentication

Food is one of the essential human needs and Muslims are obligated to consume the halal food. Nowadays, there are numerous food products available in the market, which the actual contents of these products sometimes are not clear. Non-halal ingredients such as pork, lard, gelatine, alcohol (khamr) and blood are commonly found in the food products. Adulteration is also one of the common issue over the world. Adulteration is the act of intentionally mix or substitution the product with either similar or cheaper ingredients. Therefore, scientific analyses are become very important to authenticate the adulteration in food products. For instance, some analytical techniques have been used and continuously developed for the authentication of halal food products such as chromatography-based methods, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), electronic nose (E-nose), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and DNA-based methods. Hence, this review attempts to emphasis the progress and challenges associated with halal food authentication.