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Is it possible that alcohol-containing shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) is halal?
2025-05-15
Have you ever eaten shoyu?（Japanese soy sauce)Some of you may already be familiar with one of the different sauces. Shoyu is used in cooking Japanese dishes like teriyaki, or as a dipping sauce.
Shoyu is also known as barbecue sauce or Japanese soy sauce. There are two types of this soy sauce: thin soy sauce and thick soy sauce. Unlike soy sauce, shoyu has a salty and slightly sweet flavor. This, of course, provides a flavor not found in other soy sauces.
As the name suggests, soy sauce is made from fermented soybeans, a process that often produces a byproduct in the form of alcohol.itsHalalTo what extent?
Muti Arintawati, president and director of LPPOM MUI, said that if shoyu is pure, then the ingredients and process are not critical. In terms of raw materials, shoyu uses pure soybeans, which are listed as non-critical ingredients (positive list).
At the same time, during the production process, the by-product may have a lower alcohol content. Because the purpose of making it is not to drink, this is stillMUI allows it.
This is based onMUI Fatwa No. 10 of 2018 on Food and Beverages Containing Alcohol/Ethanol, which states that fermented foods containing alcohol/alcohol are halal as long as no halal ingredients are used in the fermentation process and they are not medically dangerous. Even so, Muti stressed that shoyu can only be guaranteed to be halal if it is purely fermented, that is, without any mixtures.Halalof.
“If it is mixed with other additional ingredients, it must be confirmed that these ingredients areHalalof."Muti explained: "Maybe shoyu is alreadyHalalBut later some ingredients were added to makeshoyu is notHalalof.
The fermentation process of soybeans or wheat usually takes a long time. This sometimes leads to manipulation by entrepreneurs.The result of shoyu is as expected, for example, by adding flavoring or coloring. These additional ingredients need to beVerify whetheryesHalalof.
There are other things to consider as well. In Japanese cuisine,Shoyu is usually used with mirin and sake. Of course, if a dish mixes mirin and sake, its status becomesNoHalalThis is why Muslims need to continue to be critical of their own consumption.