Halal E numbers checker

Emulsifier — keeps fat and water together in bread, ice cream, margarine

The single most-asked number, and the answer is genuinely 'it depends'. The fatty acids can come from palm or soya oil, or from beef or pork tallow. In Europe most is plant-derived because plant oil is cheaper, but that is a commercial tendency rather than a rule. Only the manufacturer knows.

Emulsifier — the E471 family, modified with acids

Same question as E471, one step further along: acetic (472a), lactic (472b), citric (472c), tartaric (472d), mono/diacetyl tartaric or DATEM (472e), and mixed (472f). Every one of them inherits its source from the fatty acid it was built on.

Red colour — sweets, drinks, yoghurt, cosmetics

Made from the crushed bodies of the cochineal scale insect. The majority of contemporary scholars hold it impermissible on the general prohibition of consuming insects; a minority permit it, reasoning that the substance is transformed. Many manufacturers have moved to E163 or beetroot for exactly this reason.

Gelling agent — sweets, desserts, capsules

Made from the skin and bones of cattle, pigs or fish. Pork gelatine is impermissible by consensus; beef gelatine requires lawful slaughter; fish gelatine raises no question. The code is largely obsolete in labelling — gelatine is usually named outright — but people still search for it.

Flour treatment — softens dough in bread and pastry

This one deserves its reputation. It has historically been produced from duck feathers, pig bristle and human hair, as well as by bacterial fermentation. Human hair is rejected by scholars on the ground of human dignity regardless of any other question. Fermented and synthetic versions are widely used now, but the number does not tell you which you have.

Flavour enhancer — crisps, instant noodles, stock

Produced from meat or fish, or by fermentation from tapioca starch. It appears constantly on forwarded 'haram lists' as though it were always pork-derived, which is not true — but nor is it always plant-derived. It is the second most common thing worth actually asking about.

Humectant and sweetener — keeps things moist

A by-product of soap and biodiesel manufacture, so it can come from plant oils, from animal fats, or be made synthetically. Widely used, widely asked about, and genuinely unanswerable from the number.

Anti-caking and glazing agent

Stearic acid is abundant in both plant oils and animal fats. In tablets and supplements it is frequently plant-derived; in confectionery glazes it may not be.

Glazing agent — the shine on sweets and apples

A resin secreted by the lac insect and scraped from branches. Most contemporary scholars permit it, reasoning that it is a secretion rather than the insect itself — the same reasoning that permits honey. A minority object. Insect fragments in unrefined shellac are a separate question that refining addresses.

Anti-caking agent

Made from degreased animal bone, as the name says. It turns on the slaughter, and it is unusual among the numbers here in leaving no ambiguity about its origin.

Flavour enhancer and masking agent

An amino acid, produced either synthetically or by hydrolysing animal protein such as gelatine. Both routes are in commercial use.

Preservative — mainly in cheese and wine

Extracted from egg white, which raises no question in itself. What is worth knowing is its use in winemaking, which is where most people encounter it on a label.

Emulsifier

A bile acid, obtained from the bile of cattle or pigs. Rare in food, and unambiguous when present.

Black colour

The name says vegetable and it usually is — charred plant material. But carbon black has historically also been made from bone char, and the number covers both. Rare enough that asking is easy.

Acidity regulator — in almost everything sour

Produced industrially by fermenting sugar with Aspergillus niger, a mould. It is not made from animals and never has been at commercial scale. It appears on nearly every circulated 'haram list' and belongs on none of them.

Flavour enhancer

Made by bacterial fermentation of molasses or starch. The health folklore around MSG is a separate matter from its permissibility, and on permissibility there is no real question.

Yellow colour — from turmeric

Extracted from the turmeric root. Worth noting only because it is often listed beside numbers that do need checking.

Green colour

The pigment plants use for photosynthesis, extracted from nettles, grass or alfalfa.

Brown colour — cola, sauces, bread

Made by heating sugar, with ammonia or sulphites in the 150b–d variants. Plant-derived throughout. The variants differ in process rather than in origin.

Orange colour

From carrots, algae or synthesis. Worth one caveat: the carotene itself is fine, but it is fat-soluble and is sometimes carried in gelatine for use in drinks — the carrier rather than the colour is the thing to ask about.

Emulsifier — chocolate, margarine, bread

Almost always from soya beans or sunflower seeds. Egg lecithin exists and is used in some products, which raises no question either. It appears on forwarded lists and should not.

Preservative

Synthetic, made from sorbic acid. No animal route exists commercially.

Preservative — soft drinks, sauces

Synthetic. Benzoic acid occurs naturally in cranberries and is made industrially from toluene.

Preservative and antioxidant

A mineral salt. The sulphite family, E220 to E228, is synthetic throughout.

Acidity regulator — sour sweets

Occurs in apples and is made synthetically at scale. No animal route.

Antioxidant

Made from glucose by fermentation and chemical steps. Plant-derived throughout.

Gelling agent — the usual gelatine substitute

From red seaweed. Where a product uses agar rather than gelatine, that is generally a deliberate choice by the manufacturer and a good sign.

Thickener — dairy, plant milks

From red seaweed, in the same way as agar. It turns up constantly in plant milks and dairy desserts, and the arguments about it concern digestion rather than lawfulness.

Thickener

From carob seeds. The name causes alarm and refers to the carob tree, not to insects.

Thickener

Ground from the seed of the guar bean, a legume grown mostly in India and Pakistan. There is no animal or alcohol step anywhere in making it.

Thickener — gluten-free baking, sauces

Made by bacterial fermentation of sugar. One caveat that rarely matters: the growth medium is occasionally dairy or wheat-derived, which is an allergen question rather than a permissibility one.

Gelling agent — jam

From citrus peel and apple pomace. The number sits next to E441 in the list, which is how it ends up wrongly suspected.

Raising agent — baking soda

A mineral salt, mined or made from brine, and the ordinary baking soda of a kitchen. E500 to E509 are carbonates throughout, with no animal route at any point.

Glazing agent

Secreted by bees, and permitted on the same reasoning as honey. Listed here because it is often lumped in with E904 and E120 as an 'insect number' without the distinction being made.

Carrier solvent — flavourings, colours, extracts

Used to dissolve flavourings rather than as a drink, and usually present in traces after processing. Scholars differ: some prohibit any quantity, others permit what neither intoxicates nor remains in meaningful amount, particularly where it is not from grape or date. Vanilla extract is where most people meet this question.

Acidity regulator — baking powder, sweets

Traditionally recovered from the sediment of winemaking, which is why it appears on lists. Synthetic and non-wine routes exist and are common. Worth asking about where a product is European and traditional.