isithalal.food

Is Percy Pig Halal?

Yes — this one is Halal.

Halal
Medium confidence About this ruling

About this ruling

Evidence confidence
Medium means the sources are named, but they do not pin the evidence to a specific market or product. Use this page as orientation, then read the pack in your hand.
How we score High, Medium, and Low

Reviewed

Despite the name, Percy Pig sweets contain no pork.

Next step Percy Pigs no longer contain gelatine: current M&S packs are set with starch, pectin and potato protein, and several are labelled vegan. They are not Halal-certified. Read the bag for limited editions, and check for beeswax if you want vegan. How to verify
Scan a label

Photo: Open Food Facts contributors · CC BY-SA 3.0

What decides the answer

  • Percy Pig bags with no gelatine in the ingredients

    Halal

  • Limited or seasonal Percy Pig products

    read that pack's list

  • Percy Pig cakes, desserts and drinks

    separate products; check their own ingredients

Where you'll find it

  • Pig-shaped fruit gums sold by Marks & Spencer
  • Reduced-sugar, Snouts and seasonal variants
  • Percy Pig-themed cakes and desserts (check separately)

Why this ruling

Percy Pig is Marks & Spencer's pig-shaped fruit gum. The name makes Muslims ask, but there is no pork in the bag.

No gelatine in today's Percy Pigs

M&S removed gelatine from Percy Pig in 2019, saying customers had asked for it so that "people of different ethnicities & diets can now enjoy our favourite pig".[3] M&S packs list glucose syrup, sugar, potato and tapioca starch, fruit juice, fruit acids, potato protein and pectin, finished with a carnauba-wax glaze.[1] None of that is animal-derived. The chew that gelatine gives other gums comes here from starch, pectin and potato protein. Percy Pig Snouts are "prepared to a vegan recipe",[2] and the reduced-sugar bag uses a beeswax glaze, which is Halal.[4]

Not certified, and not every Percy product

M&S does not put a Halal mark on Percy Pigs, so the answer rests on the ingredients. That is enough for a recipe with nothing to question. It covers the sweets, not every product with Percy's face on it: cakes, desserts and drinks are separate recipes, and those can contain gelatine or emulsifiers worth checking.

For a UK sweet with the opposite answer, see Squashies, which use pork gelatine. For another gelatine-free fruit sweet, see Fruit Pastilles.

How to verify

  1. Read the bag: look for gelatine; current Percy Pig lists we found have none.
  2. Starch, pectin, potato protein, pea protein, carnauba wax and beeswax are all Halal.
  3. Seasonal and limited editions use their own lists, so check each one.
  4. No Halal mark; the answer rests on the ingredients.

Frequently asked questions

Are Percy Pigs Halal?
Yes, on their ingredients. Current M&S Percy Pig packs contain no gelatine: they are set with starch, pectin and potato protein. They are not Halal-certified.
Do Percy Pigs contain pork gelatine?
No. M&S took gelatine out of Percy Pig in 2019 ('yes, we removed the gelatine', its spokesperson said), and the current ingredient lists we found have none.
Are Percy Pigs vegan?
Several are: Percy Pig and Percy Pig Snouts packs carry the vegan label. Some packs use beeswax as a glaze, which is Halal but not vegan.
Are other Percy Pig products Halal?
Each is its own recipe. Percy Pig cakes, desserts and drinks need their own ingredient check, especially for gelatine and E471.

Scholarly view

A sweet's name or shape has no bearing on its Halal status; only its ingredients do. Percy Pig's gelling comes from starch, pectin and plant proteins, not gelatine, so there is nothing animal-derived to check. Beeswax, used as a glaze on some packs, is Halal.

Sources

Named Islamic, certifier, manufacturer, and regulatory sources used on this page. Inline markers like [1] jump here. Retrieval dates show when we last checked the live URL. Editorial methodology.

Manufacturer / product

  1. M&S Percy Pig soft fruit flavour gums made with fruit juice

    Open Food Facts Retrieved

    Ingredients: glucose syrup, sugar, modified potato starch, dextrose, modified tapioca starch, fruit juice from concentrates 3.5% (apple, mandarin, elderberry), citric acid, malic acid, lactic acid, potato protein, fruit concentrates (red grape, elderberry), gelling agent (pectin), carnauba wax, caramelised sugar syrup.

  2. M&S Percy Pig Snouts

    Open Food Facts Retrieved

    Ingredients: sugar, glucose syrup, modified potato starch, dextrose, modified tapioca starch, apple juice from concentrate, acids (citric, malic, lactic), potato protein, natural flavourings, fruit and vegetable concentrates, hydrolysed pea protein. 'Prepared to a Vegan recipe.' Labelled vegan.

  3. M&S Percy Pig Sugar Reduced

    Open Food Facts Retrieved

    Ingredients include modified potato and tapioca starch, maize dextrin, sorbitol, fruit juice concentrates, fruit acids, potato protein and a glazing agent of beeswax; no gelatine.

Context / background

  1. Marks & Spencer slammed by customers after changing recipe for Percy Pigs to make them vegetarian

    GoodtoKnow Retrieved

    Jurisdiction: United Kingdom

    1 May 2019. Quoting an M&S spokesperson on Twitter: 'We changed the recipe for Percy earlier this year and yes, we removed the gelatine… our customers have been asking us to do this for a while. It means people of different ethnicities & diets can now enjoy our favourite pig.'

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