Have you ever had shoyu? Some of you are already familiar with one of these various sauces. Shoyu is used to cook Japanese dishes, such as sukiyaki and yakiniku, or as a dipping sauce.
Shoyu is also called shoya sauce or Japanese soy sauce. This soy sauce is produced in two types: thin and concentrated. Unlike soy sauce, shoyu has a salty and slightly sweet taste. Of course, this provides a sensation not found in other soy sauces.
As the name suggests, this soy sauce results from fermented soybeans. As we all know, the fermentation process will generally produce by-products in the form of alcohol. How halal is it?
According to the President Director of LPPOM MUI, Muti Arintawati, there is no critical point regarding ingredients and processes if the shoyu is pure. For raw materials, shoyu uses pure soybeans, which are included in the list of non-critical ingredients (positive list).
Meanwhile, regarding the manufacturing process, there is a chance that side products will occur in trim levels of alcohol. Because the purpose of making it is not for drinking, this is still permitted by the MUI.
This is based on MUI Fatwa No. 10 of 2018 concerning Food and Beverage Products Containing Alcohol/Ethanol, which states that fermented food products containing alcohol/ethanol are halal as long as the process does not use haram ingredients and if they are not medically dangerous. Even so, Muti emphasized that shoyu is guaranteed to be halal only if the shoyu made is purely fermented, meaning there is no mixture whatsoever.
“If it has been mixed with other additional ingredients, the ingredients must be confirmed to be halal. “It could be that the shoyu is already halal, but then there are added ingredients that make the shoyu not halal,” explained Muti.
The fermentation process for soybeans or wheat generally takes a long time. This sometimes causes entrepreneurs to manipulate so that the shoyu results are as expected, for example, by adding flavorings or coloring. These additional ingredients need to be considered halal.
Other things also need to be considered. In Japanese dishes, shoyu is generally used with mirin and sake. Of course, if a dish is mixed with mirin and sake, its status becomes haram. This is the reason why a Muslim needs to continue to be critical of what he consumes.
Currently, many shoyu producers have certified their products as halal. You can ensure the product is halal by looking at the label on the packaging or checking it on the LPPOM MUI website, page www.halalmui.org. (YN)
