Is Apple Juice Halal?

Apple juice is the juice pressed from apples, filtered clear or left cloudy, and usually pasteurised so it keeps. Apples are a lawful fruit and pressing them involves no slaughter, so unfermented apple juice is Halal.^[1]

Clear, cloudy and from concentrate

• Cloudy apple juice is pressed and lightly strained, keeping some of the fruit's pulp.
• Clear apple juice is filtered and often clarified with enzymes and fining agents so it does not form sediment.
• From concentrate means the juice was evaporated to a syrup for shipping, then water was added back.
• Many juices add vitamin C (ascorbic acid) to stop browning, which is fine; see E300.^[3]

Clarifying agents

Fining agents used to clear juice are processing aids and do not have to appear on the label. They include plant and mineral options such as bentonite clay, silica and pea protein, and sometimes gelatin. A Halal certification on the juice covers this; certifiers such as JAKIM check the processing aids as well as the ingredients.^[4] Cloudy juice is not fined this way.

Cider and fermented juice

The word cider means different things. In Britain and most of Europe it is an alcoholic drink of fermented apple juice, which is Haram. In the United States, "apple cider" in the juice aisle is usually unfiltered, non-alcoholic juice, and "hard cider" is the alcoholic one. The label, not the name, tells you which; see cider.^[2]

Fresh juice, especially unpasteurised juice, can start fermenting if it is kept too long or too warm. Juice that fizzes, bulges its carton or smells of alcohol has spoiled and should be thrown away.

Related products

Apple cider vinegar is made by fermenting apple juice all the way to vinegar, and is treated as vinegar, not alcohol; see apple cider vinegar. Sparkling apple juice is carbonated juice with no alcohol, but check that a "sparkling apple" drink is not a cider.