Nutritional Supplements for Halal and Kosher Consumers
Food consumed by Muslims meets the Islamic dietary code and is called halal food. Similarly, food consumed by Jews is called kosher food. Muslims use two major terms to describe food, halal and haram. Halal means permitted or lawful, and haram means forbidden or unlawful. Kosher means the food is fit or proper for consumption by Jewish consumers, while "traif"? means it is not kosher. Although kosher and halal requirements are similar, there are significant differences between the two.
In the past several decades, the number of supplements available to consumers through specialty stores, supermarkets and especially through multi-level marketing has seen tremendous growth worldwide. The line between pharmaceuticals (products that heal) and nutraceuticals (products that help maintain well-being) are becoming blurred. The purpose of this article is not to determine the effectiveness of these products, but to reflect on their compositions and determine if any of the components present a problem for the Muslim and Jewish consumers.