isithalal.food

Is Wasabi 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.
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Reviewed

Wasabi (Wasabia japonica) is a plant in the mustard family.

Next step Wasabi is a plant, and most wasabi paste is mostly horseradish with a little real wasabi, sweetener, oil and colour. Read the label on sauces and coated snacks, which add other ingredients. How to verify
Scan a label

What decides the answer

  • Wasabi and horseradish

    plants, Halal

  • Tube pastes from S&B, Vitasia and Yutaka

    no animal ingredients or alcohol listed

  • Sauces and coated snacks

    read the other ingredients

Where you'll find it

  • Paste with sushi and sashimi
  • Wasabi mayonnaise and dressings
  • Wasabi peas and coated peanuts

Why this ruling

Wasabi is a Japanese plant related to mustard, eaten as a sharp green paste with sushi. Most of what's sold as wasabi is mostly horseradish.

What's in a tube

S&B's wasabi lists horseradish 31.7% and wasabi japonica 4.5%, with sorbitol, rice bran oil, salt, starch, turmeric and a blue colour.[2] Lidl's Vitasia paste lists horseradish powder 42% and wasabi 5%,[3] and Yutaka's horseradish powder 22% and wasabi powder 5%.[4] None of them lists an animal ingredient or alcohol.

The ruling

Both wasabi and horseradish are plants, and the Qur'an tells people to "eat from whatever is on earth [that is] lawful and good".[1] So plain wasabi paste is Halal.

Wasabi snacks and sauces

Wasabi-flavoured products add their own ingredients. Some wasabi-coated peanuts use a "natural flavouring (contains milk and mustard)",[5] which is fine but worth knowing if you avoid dairy. With sushi, the rice vinegar and soy sauce are the parts that raise Halal questions, not the wasabi.

How to verify

  1. Tube and powder pastes: expect horseradish, a little wasabi, sorbitol, oil, salt, starch and colour.
  2. Wasabi mayonnaise and sauces may add egg yolk, which is fine, and vinegar.
  3. Wasabi-coated peanuts and peas sometimes list 'natural flavouring' containing milk; read the list.

Quick checks

  • Wasabi and horseradish are plants.
  • Tube pastes list no animal ingredients or alcohol.
  • Check sauces and coated snacks.

Frequently asked questions

Is wasabi Halal?
Yes. Wasabi is a plant, and so is the horseradish most wasabi paste is made from. S&B, Lidl's Vitasia and Yutaka pastes list no animal ingredients or alcohol.
Is the wasabi with sushi real wasabi?
Usually it's mostly horseradish. S&B's paste lists horseradish 31.7% and wasabi japonica 4.5%; Vitasia's lists horseradish powder 42% and wasabi 5%.
Are wasabi peas Halal?
Read the pack. The ones on Open Food Facts are peas, starch, oil, sugar, salt and a wasabi or horseradish seasoning; some wasabi-coated peanuts add a natural flavouring containing milk.

Scholarly view

Plants are lawful unless they intoxicate or harm, in line with the Qur'anic command to eat of what is on earth that is lawful and good. Wasabi and horseradish are neither, so the only questions are the other ingredients in a particular product.

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.

Islamic / scriptural

  1. Qur'an 2:168

    Qur'an (Sahih International, via Quran.com) Retrieved

    'O mankind, eat from whatever is on earth [that is] lawful and good and do not follow the footsteps of Satan.'

Manufacturer / product

  1. S&B Wasabi

    Open Food Facts Retrieved

    Horseradish 31.7%, humectant (E420), rice bran oil, salt, dextrin, wasabi japonica 4.5%, potato starch, water, flavouring, turmeric, thickener (E415), acid (E330), colour (E133).

  2. Vitasia (Lidl) Wasabi Paste

    Open Food Facts Retrieved

    Horseradish powder 42%, sweetener (E420), water, soybean oil, horseradish-wasabi 5%, colour (E141), salt, turmeric, sugar, acidity regulator (E330), thickener (E415).

  3. Yutaka Wasabi Paste

    Open Food Facts Retrieved

    Sorbitol, water, horseradish powder (22%), soybean oil, salt, wasabi powder (5%), mustard powder, maltodextrin, modified corn starch, mustard oil, citric acid, xanthan gum, colour (brilliant blue), turmeric.

  4. Menguy's wasabi-coated peanuts

    Open Food Facts Retrieved

    Peanuts, corn flour, starch, wasabi flavouring 5.3% [natural flavouring (contains milk and mustard)], sunflower oil, sugar, maltodextrin, salt, acacia gum, colour (copper chlorophyll complexes).

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