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Saturday 4 December 2010

Sushi in my platter

Sushi and other Japanese food has acquired a distinctive place in our platter. However there are many questions on the halal status of Sushi and one example is regarding Sushi King. Many may have taken it lightly that the halal certification only covers certain ingredients not the whole restaurant itself. Most Sushi bars sell alcohol and other ingredients that are questionable that may not comply to halal standards.
Sake is alcohol made from rice and mirin is plum wine. Soy sauces, mayonnaise, tonkatsu and teriyaki mostly have alcoholic content and questionable ingredients. Sushi rice is cold cooked rice flavored with vinegar, sugar and salt. Therefore the debate continues on it's halal status. The alcohol content may not be intoxicating and many would quote certain fatwas to appease their desire. However as Muslims, the halal standard from the authorities carries valid endorsement and shouldn't be taken lightly.

On the matter of Sushi King and its pork free status and the notice they put at the cashier should be taken seriously. Notice of alcohol content should be at the entrance and menus not at the cashier after one has eaten. I hope that Sushi King would clear this matter to all Muslim patrons who have being duped into assuming its halal status.

THE REPLY FROM SUSHI KING TO PPIM
Sushi King Halal status
For your reference & response
On Tue, 10/13/09, Suhaila wrote:
From: Suhaila
Subject: Sushi King Halal status


Sushi King is not Halal certified restaurants as we do not have certification from JAKIM or others Halal certification body. However, we are pork free. Our meat materials such as chicken, beef and seafood are from Halal Certified source. Selected of our restaurants served alcohollic drinks (in a can form).

Sushi King is on going carry out Halal study and commited to serve Halal food to our customers. Currently, Sushi King has enganged with consultant such as KasehDia Sdn Bhd about Halal food. We also carry out alcohol test to ensure alcohol level within permitted level. The alcohol is derived through fermentation process. Some rumours said that our sushi is dipped with alcohol. I would like to stress that it is a wrong info. None of our sushi or products dip with alcohol.

Selected of our products content Mirin. Mirin is derived from fermented glutinous rice. It is used mainly in cooking as food enhancer in Japanese food. Mirin is not mean for drink. I have checked with JAKIM, and they cannot confirm on Mirin status. We are in progress to get info on Mirin status. Now, I am waiting a feedback from Tn Hj Abdullah Fahim, from Islamic Food Research Centre (IFRC) on Mirin Halal status.

As I mentioned earlier, Sushi King served alcoholic drinks at selected restaurants at most major city with high capacity of Chinese customer. Due to this business nature, Sushi King is not able to get Halal Certification from JAKIM.

I hope this info will help you.

Regards,
Suhaila Saghil @ Yusof
Sushi Kin Sdn. Bhd
Tel: 03-56319060 ext 295



Yummy but is it halal? I hope there is another alternative to this problem and I am positive, halal standards can be applied to all food from different cultures.
Email us if you have the alternatives to mymuslimconsumer@gmail.com