The Muslim Consumer Group (MCG) is a U.S.

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

founded in November 1993 by Syed Rasheeduddin Ahmed, based in

Rolling Meadows, Illinois Rolling Meadows is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 24,200. History In 1836, Orrin Ford became the first landowner in the area that is now Rolling Meadows, staking his claim of in an area ...

. Its goal was to educate Muslims about

Halal ''Halal'' (; ar, حلال, ) is an Arabic word that translates to "permissible" in English. In the Quran, the word ''halal'' is contrasted with ''haram'' (forbidden). This binary opposition was elaborated into a more complex classification kno ...

foods and perform Halal certification, which was not done by any other organization in the United States at that time.

Overview

MCG first established its

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

in 2000 to educate Muslims throughout the world about the Halal status of food ingredients,

E-numbers E numbers ("E" stands for "Europe") are codes for substances used as food additives, including those found naturally in many foods such as vitamin C, for use within the European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Commonly f ...

and food products. MCG has written a book, titled ''A Comprehensive List of Halal Food Products in U.S. and Canadian Supermarkets'' that lists food products and ingredients that are certified as Halal. MCG also visits

mosques A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, i ...

and religious centers in the United States to give educational presentations about food products, medicine,

cosmetics Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...

, and personal care products. A major breakthrough in R&D was the discovery of the source of L-

Cysteine Cysteine (symbol Cys or C; ) is a semiessential proteinogenic amino acid with the formula . The thiol side chain in cysteine often participates in enzymatic reactions as a nucleophile. When present as a deprotonated catalytic residue, sometime ...

, which was being derived from human hair.

Muslim dietary laws Islamic dietary laws are dietary laws that Muslims follow. Islamic jurisprudence specifies which foods are '' '' (, "lawful") and which are '' '' (, "unlawful"). The dietary laws are found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, as well as in col ...

do not allow the ingestion of anything that is derived from the human body. It was found that there were several companies that were using this in their baked goods that varied from

Naan Naan ( fa, نان, nān, ur, , ps, نان, ug, نان, hi, नान, bn, নান) is a leavened, oven-baked or tawa-fried flatbread which is found in the cuisines mainly of Western Asia, Central Asia, Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, Ma ...

, which was being supplied to Muslim stores in major U.S. cities, to donuts made by

Dunkin' Donuts Dunkin' Donuts LLC, also known as Dunkin' and by the initials DD, is an American multinational coffee and doughnut company, as well as a quick service restaurant. It was founded by Bill Rosenberg (1916–2002) in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 195 ...

. A well known Halal food company, AlSafa, uses L-Cysteine in its chicken nuggets, chicken patties, and chicken strips. After MCG's publication of these findings, the source for the L-Cysteine was changed in a large part to chicken or duck feathers. It has not been confirmed that AlSafa uses chicken or duck feathers.

H-MCG symbol

The H-MCG symbols are used by the Muslim Consumer Group to identify the

status of different edible and non-edible consumer products.

References

External links

(As of 2020, the website is down.)
Muslim Consumer Group Website
{{Authority control Halal food Islamic organizations based in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Illinois Religious dietary certification organizations