Fast food has long been a way of life for modern people.
However, global chains of fast food restaurants, such as Burger King, McDonald’s, or KFC, increasingly include products in their offer that correspond to the changing habits of modern people.
The popularity of this way of eating is especially high among young people, but people of all ages all over the planet also eat in this way.
In the United States, hamburgers are the most popular as one of the trademarks of fast food.
The average American eats two and a half hamburgers a day.
Often, even people with completely different, much healthier habits visit fast food restaurants, seeing it as an opportunity to treat themselves.
But is fast food halal or haram? Is Burger King Halal or Haram In Islam?
In the following text, we will answer this question, but we will also present some facts that could be useful for you to come to your conclusion.
Is Burger King Halal or Haram in Islam?
Burger King is an international chain of fast food restaurants with sales in over one hundred countries, with over eighteen thousand restaurants.
The United States has the most Burger King restaurants. Of the eighteen thousand worldwide, at least half are in the United States.
International restaurant chains often have the problem of harmonizing their sales policy in all countries where they are located because they are obliged to respect local laws, customs, and religious beliefs.
Menus vary greatly from country to country and sometimes even from region to region.
For Burger King restaurants in Muslim countries, especially in the Middle East, it can be freely claimed that they are completely halal.
The JAKIM Department of Islamic Development has certified Burger King fast food restaurants in Malaysia.
Burger King Malaysia regularly inspects its suppliers to ensure they strictly adhere to the prescribed conditions for producing and distributing food prescribed by Islamic law.
Burger King restaurants are also halal in India and some European countries, for example, Luxembourg, France, and Belgium.
Burger King fast-food restaurants in India are Halal certified by Halal India Pvt Ltd.
These restaurants serve halal food prepared following Islamic dietary laws.
Visitors to Burger King fast-food restaurants in India can be sure that the food served to them does not contain any haram ingredients, nor is it indirectly contaminated with haram products, such as alcohol or pork.
Burger King fast-food restaurants in India have added vegan and vegetarian options to their menus to meet the needs of their consumers.
Burger King restaurants in France have the longest tradition of serving halal food.
This European country has been serving exclusively halal food for a decade.
These Burger King restaurants have halal certificates, based on which you can be sure that the food in them is safe and meets your requirements because the procedure for obtaining a halal certificate is very rigid.
Burger King’s business policy has shown an understanding of the needs of its consumers who want to exclusively use halal food.
In the early 2000s, this international chain of fast-food restaurants strictly adhered to halal procedures at some of its locations and had halal products on the menu.
In many Burger King restaurants, in addition to halal food, they also serve haram food, which immediately disqualifies them as halal restaurants because food prepared in a halal way is contaminated due to contact with haram food.
Are desserts at Burger King Halal or Haram in Islam?
In the fierce competition of other international fast food chains, Burger King has created a globally recognized trademark for its products.
Burger King’s business policy is to constantly examine and monitor consumer habits and preferences.
In this way, they consistently enrich their assortment with new food products that quickly become popular and in demand.
In the offer of non-alcoholic drinks and desserts, Burger King has delicacies at the very top of similar products in terms of quality.
Chocolate Oreo cookie shake consisting of pieces of Oreo cookies, chocolate sauce, and vanilla ice cream surely belongs at the top of the best desserts offered in Burger King fast food restaurants.
Combining these ingredients gives the Chocolate Oreo Cookie Shake a velvety, smooth texture.
Chocolate Oreo Cookie Shake has six hundred and seventy-four calories.
All shakes in Burger King restaurants are halal.
Chocolate chip cookies have the perfect sweetness and are among the best cookies sold in fast food restaurants by both Burger King and other global brands.
Butter, eggs, flour, chocolate chips, baking soda, and butter are the main ingredients of these cookies.
All these ingredients are halal, so the Chocolate Chip Cookies are also halal.
We’ll end this short review of the desserts offered at Burger King restaurants with Hershey’s Sundae Pie.
This delicious pie consists of layers of chocolate and vanilla layered on top of each other.
The ingredients used in Hershey’s Sundae Pie are halal, but you should always check to see if the suppliers have changed an ingredient that was previously halal with an ingredient that is haram in some way.
Can you order hamburgers or nuggets that do not contain meat at Burger King?
To be halal, meat must be from a halal source, and livestock must be slaughtered according to regulations following Muslim law.
Since blood is also haram, according to Islamic regulations, the cattle must be slaughtered so all the blood drains from them.
It is also necessary that the meat be prepared according to halal regulations.
First, halal meat does not include pork or all pork by-products.
The meat of prohibited animals such as birds of prey, predators, vermin, and scavengers is not halal either.
Burger King is an international chain of fast food restaurants, and often the production and preparation of meat must comply with the laws of the countries where the restaurants are located.
Many countries have laws that correspond to the halal procedure. Still, in some, despite these legal benefits, for commercial reasons, the production and preparation of meat can be considered only partially halal.
Some countries where Burger King has restaurants have laws that are completely haram by Islamic standards regarding the production and preparation of meat.
In some countries, it is completely lawless to slaughter animals as prescribed by Islamic instructions. However, in those countries, due to the protection of animals, they must be put to sleep before slaughter.
Laws in the United States prescribe procedures completely different from those prescribed by Islamic law for slaughtering and preparing halal meat.
This is why Burger King in America is prevented from serving halal products because providing huge quantities of halal meat is impossible.
Burger King’s needs to supply its approximately eight thousand restaurants in the United States represent a serious amount, and any attempt to establish a constant supply of only meat that has halal status would fail in advance.
In Muslim-majority countries where Islamic laws apply to the production and preparation of meat, Burger King has fully halal products. In those countries, meat is strictly procured from verified halal sources and prepared in a halal way.
Burger King restaurants in those countries have an official certificate confirming halal meat.
To avoid the complications of determining which Burger King restaurants use halal meat, many people who adhere to Islamic food regulations increasingly opt for a safer option by choosing from the menu products made from plant-based ingredients.
Impossible Foods has been working with Burger King in the United States for some time.
Impossible Foods Inc. produces hamburgers, sausages, and chicken using plant-based ingredients. These products have the same taste as products obtained from meat.
Plant-based hamburgers contain less fat, no cholesterol, and far more protein.
This cooperation led to Burger King offering burgers and nuggets that do not contain meat but taste the same as hamburgers and nuggets made of meat.
Since 2019, Burger King has included the Impossible Whopper in the menu.
The Impossible Whopper is a burger made in collaboration with Impossible Foods Inc.
Later, another plant-based hamburger appeared on the Burger King fast food restaurant menu. It was the Impossible King.
The Impossible Whopper differs from the Impossible King in that the Impossible Whopper does not have cheese and mustard but does have mayo. Impossible King is a burger without mayonnaise but with cheese and mustard.
The vegan menu at Burger King in most locations offers the Impossible Whopper, Impossible King classic fries, hash browns, French toast sticks, Mott’s applesauce, and garden side salad.
Burger King includes many vegan items on its menu, but it varies by location.
Burger King works with many suppliers worldwide who produce products that do not contain meat but taste the same as meat products.
These vegan products are made from plants and are always made with the same ingredients, so they have the same composition and taste.
In the UK, Austria, Spain, Chile, Switzerland, and Israel, Burger King has meat-free or 100% vegan restaurants.
In Germany, in addition to food prepared from meat, Burger King also offers a plant-based version of each dish.
In France, the Burger King restaurant chain has also included vegan bacon in the menu, which they offer in their Veggie Steakhouse Burgers.
Conclusion
Clearly, whether it is Halal or Haram in Islam cannot be answered simply for such a branched and large global system of fast food restaurants such as Burger King.
Much depends on compliance with laws in over a hundred countries where Burger King has fast food restaurants.
In such a large system, some restaurants serve only halal food and can confirm this with a certificate, but some restaurants serve halal food but do not have the necessary certificates.
Some restaurants serve halal food but at the same time also serve haram food, and there are also those Burger King restaurants that cannot guarantee that the meat is from a halal source.
Burger King fast-food restaurants in many Muslim countries can be reliably claimed to be fully halal, as well as Burger King in France and some other European countries, as well as Burger King restaurants in India.
It should be noted that Burger King was one of the first to offer halal products and that its business policy strives to meet the habits of its consumers.
Burger King is including more and more vegan options in its offer or options in which the meat is replaced by a product with the same taste but made from plants.
This business policy of Burger King was born out of the need to meet consumers who are changing their attitudes about meat more and more often.
Some people change their attitudes for health reasons, some because they need to replace haram meat with a halal product, and others choose meat-free products for environmental reasons.
People who choose meat-free food for health reasons do so with good reason because food obtained from plants is much healthier.
Muslims who are unsure if any of the Burger King restaurants use halal meat also opt for meat-free food because it is plant-based and completely halal.
Ecologically conscious people choose this way of eating because they want to contribute to reducing the emission of harmful gases, but also to the overall pollution of the natural environment by using products obtained from plants, the production of which consumes much less energy and which is more ecologically profitable than the production of meat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are onion rings at Burger King Halal or Haram?
Onion rings at Burger King are halal.
However, if they were fried in the same oil in which haram food was fried, in that case, they would be contaminated and would no longer be halal.
For example, if chicken from a haram source or a patty made from haram meat is fried in that oil.
Is there alcohol in the desserts at Burger King?
The international chain of fast food restaurants, Burger King, offers non-alcoholic drinks, beverages, and food products.
Burger King does not offer alcoholic beverages, nor is alcohol used to prepare food products.
Desserts at Burger King are halal, but they may sometimes contain some ingredients that may be contaminated or contain a minimal, almost undetectable, percentage of alcohol.
This minimum percentage of alcohol is usually a product of the production of these ingredients.
Regardless of how negligible the percentage of alcohol that remains in such products after the technological processes in which alcohol was used to obtain them is, some Muslims believe that even this amount is sufficient for them to be considered haram.
For example, desserts containing vanilla are haram because the vanilla extract is obtained in a process that uses alcohol.
Are all domestic animals halal in Islam?
Except for pigs which are haram, all other domestic animals are halal in Islam.
For the meat of halal animals to be used, i.e., for it to be halal, several conditions must be met.
Animals must live and be raised in humane conditions.
They should be fed exclusively with natural food.
And finally, the meat will be halal only if the animal is slaughtered painlessly and the blood drains from the body.
Is Burger King in Australia Halal or Haram?
The Hungry Jack’s restaurant chain sells Burger King products in Australia.
Only some of Hungry Jack’s fast food restaurants have halal certification.
It is also important to check that everything you order has a halal certificate because it is not enough that the meat itself is halal certified and that the other ingredients you order, such as sauces, desserts, or pastries, are not halal.
It is important to check whether the whole meal is halal.
Read also: Is Hero Burger Halal?
