Halal Concerns on Lard in Food Products and its Detection Methods

Lard refers to a creamy, white, soft substance made from pig fat and used in cooking and baking. Lard not only has the risk of biological complications and health problems associated with regular consumption, but also has other issues such as the restriction on use in the food industry from the perspective of the Muslim religion. There are few literature studies that show several issues related to the adulteration of food products, especially halal meat. This issue must be resolved to avoid confusion for Muslims. Therefore, laboratory analysis on meat species authentication is highly necessary. There are different available methods to detect different species in food samples, including Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), Electronic Nose (e-nose), Duplex PCR-Enzyme-linked Oligonucleotide Assay (ELONA), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy, Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC), and Rapid PCR. This article aims to review the application of lard in food, cases related to halal and methods to detect the presence of lard.