Yogurt (fermented milk), beside it has a favourable taste, it also has good health impacts such as curing diarrhoea, increasing body’s immunity against disease, balancing the existing population of microflora in the digestive area, etc.
Fermentation is simply defined as a process generating products by utilizing microorganisms (often called microbes). There are three types of fermented milk, 1) that are made using yeast and lactic acid bacteria, 2) using lactic acid bacteria, and 3) using moulds and lactic acid bacteria, such as villi.
Fermented milk made using lactic acid bacteria are further divided into 3 groups that are made with mesophilic lactic acid bacteria (growth optimum at temperatures of 25-35 ° C) for example, cultured buttermilk and buttermilk; made with the thermophile lactic acid bacteria (growth optimum at temperatures above 50 ° C with the growth temperature range of 30-80 ° C) for example yogurt and labneh; made with lactic acid bacteria that have health benefits for instance bio-yogurt.
What are the basic ingredients of yogurt?
The main ingredient of making yogurt is fresh milk, while for certain purposes can also be made from reconstituted milk (milk that is made by mixing water, flour and skim milk fats / oils either milk fat or vegetable oil). To get the desired total milk solids, it is usually achieved by the addition of milk powder (skim or full cream), buttermilk powder, whey, whey concentrate, or casein (acid casein, rennet casein, salt casein and hydrolyzate casein).
What should be considered of its halal status?
Ingredients that commonly added to increase the total solids of yogurt and become questionable of its halal status are whey, whey concentrate, and casein. These materials can be obtained from milk by using enzymes derived from animals (pig, cow, or goat), but it could also not a problem if it comes from plants. That is why the status is doubtful.
Stabilizers are added to yogurt to maintain the preferred characteristics
of yogurt, especially the texture, consistency / viscosity (as a thickener), appearance and mouthfeel. The types of stabilizers commonly used may derived from plants such as various types of gum, pectin; from seaweed such as alginate, carrageenan; from animals such as gelatine and casein; the results of chemical modification such as cellulose derivatives (one of them is CMC, carboxymethyl cellulose); and the results of fermentation such as dextran and xanthan gum. The doubtful ingredients are gelatine, casein, dextran and xanthan gum. Gelatine can be derived from pig, cow, or fish. The halal status of dextran and xanthan gum depend on the medium used during the fermentation to produce both additive materials.
Other additive materials and ingredients that are often added to yogurt are sweetener, preservatives, flavouring, fruit, and colouring. The addition depends on the type of yogurt that will be generated. In term of halal, additives which should be paid attention are sweetener, flavouring, and emulsifiers. Among the commonly used of sweetener is a sweetener that is made by hydrolysis of starch (glucose, fructose, or syrup; those are glucose syrup and fructose syrup). The material is considered doubtful because in its making use alpha amylase enzyme that can be derived from animals.
Many flavouring status is doubtful. Emulsifiers are also doubtful, since they can be made of vegetable or animal.
We also have to look out for the use of starter in the manufacturing of yogurt. It is because the starter is grown in the media that may contain doubtful materials such as whey and protein hydrolyzate from animal.
