The Indonesian culinary industry began to spread its wings by adopting foreign dishes. This trend does not only spread to the main food, but also to snacks and drinks. One of them is Japanese Cheese Cake. Let’s look at the critical point of prohibition.
Most of the businessmen bring original recipes from the country of origin of food to Indonesia, in order to maintain the special taste of food. In fact, these foods can be accepted by the Indonesian people.
What about the halal diet? Recipe of a food menu from the country of origin certainly does not pay attention to the use of halal ingredients. This is because each country has a different halal standard. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Muslim-majority population emphasizes halal haram to be an important matter because it involves a person’s devotion to Allah. Businesses must naturally adapt to this condition.
This time, the editorial team of Halal Journal will discuss one of the rising snacks from the Land of Sakura, the Japanese Cheese Cake. The cake that is being loved by Millennials is made from a mixture of the main ingredients of cream cheese, milk, eggs, and sugar. Savory and sweet taste and very soft texture make this cake never run out of connoisseurs.
However, who can guarantee the halal cake? Judging from the main ingredients, it turns out that this cake has a haram critical point which is quite essential, especially in cream cheese and sugar. Let’s review the critical points of Japanese Cheese Cake one by one.
The first ingredient that makes the Japanese Cheese Cake special is cream cheese. Different from cheese in general, cream cheese has a soft texture like butter, the color is white, and the taste is a bit savory. This type of cheese made from pasteurized cow’s milk does not experience ripening.
Next, to the raw material with or without homogenization, lactic acid bacteria and rennet enzymes or other clotting enzymes are added. After clumping, the resulting solid will be heated, stirred, and separated whey.
The addition of lactic acid bacteria and rennet enzymes is what needs to be in the spotlight. According to Ir. Muti Arintawati, M.Sc, Deputy Director of LPPOM MUI, the enzyme rennet used can be derived from fermentation (microbial rennet) or from the stomach of a calf, whereas lactic acid is a microbial product. “Microbial products must ensure that the media used for microbial growth does not contain any prohibited ingredients. While the rennet that comes from the stomach of a calf, the method of slaughter becomes the determinant of halality,” he explained.
The next ingredient is milk and eggs. Both are included in the list of non-critical substances (positive list) if produced from halal animals and no additional ingredients mixed, except salt.
“Basically, milk from halal animals is sacred and halal. Then the raw material of the product must be studied. If it comes from natural milk and halal animals, then the product is also halal for consumption. But if you experience processing or processing, there is a mixture of additional ingredients, then of course you must first examine the mixture of materials used. If the additional material and the processing equipment are sacred and halal, then the product becomes holy and halal, “said Deputy Chairman of the Central MUI Fatwa Commission, Dr. KH. Maulana Hasanuddin, M.A.
Another ingredient that is equally important is sugar. Most granulated sugar is usually made from sugar cane. Although the raw material for sugar comes from plants, it is not necessarily halal. There is a further process that involves other ingredients that must be observed halal haram. To get to become sugar, sugar cane needs to go through several stages, starting from the extraction process, purification, evaporation, crystallization, to drying.
These stages of the process have the opportunity to use decolorization materials that use activated carbon. “If this activated carbon comes from mining products or from charcoal, then it certainly won’t be a problem. However, when using bone char, it must be ascertained the halal status of animal origin. Haram active charcoal is used if it is derived from the bones of unclean animals, or halal animal bones that are not slaughtered according to Islamic law, “said the Head of the Auditing Division of LPPOM MUI, Dr. Ir. Mulyorini R. Hilwan, M.Sc.
To this day, there is only one Japanese Cheese Cake brand that has been certified as halal MUI, namely Uncle Tetsu. They said the raw materials came from quality ingredients, including: cream cheese from Australia, milk from New Zealand, while eggs from chicken farms in Bogor.
So, feel the delicious specialties overseas guaranteed halal not be impossible anymore. There is now a Japanese Cheese Cake that is guaranteed halal. If we make it ourselves it is also not a problem, as long as we pay attention to the halal raw material used. By knowing the critical point of the product, we can select which foods are halal and haram for us to consume. (YN)
