Bertolli Pasta Sauce

If you buy Bertolli's pasta sauces, please keep these matters in mind:

• Any label listing CHEESE, or any type of cheese, is most likely derived from PORK.
• Avoid any variety with BEEF/MEAT FLAVORING
• Of course avoid all of their VODKA SAUCES, because obviously there is Vodka inside
• They also said they use SHERRY WINE in their products, but didn't specify if this was always on their label or if you used it in all the sauces. I would switch to a different brand to be on the safer side.

Hello Lazeena,

Thanks for writing!

Bertolli sauces do not contain animal or animal derived ingredients unless listed on label, e.g., cheese, cream, etc. The label may also specify that the product is flavored with "beef" or "meat" . The "Meat" is always beef. However, the cheese in products may be produced using ingredients derived from pork. You must check each label. If the product contains cheese, then you must assume it contains a pork derivative.

The wine used in our product is a sherry wine with a very minimal alcohol content. The Unilever and home cooking processes almost eliminate the alcohol entirely. The wine is really just a flavoring agent.

In our Vodka sauce, the recipe includes 2 1/2% Vodka for flavoring purposes only. Most of the spirits evaporate during the reheating process leaving behind only the flavor.


Kind regards,
Your friends at Bertolli

Barilla Pasta Sauce

Pasta sauces seem to be a tricky product. Here is an email from Barilla stating that only a few products contain ingredients that we cannot consume, however, they said that they share equipment between all the other flavors so there's contamination between ingredients. They shouldn't be allowed to mix equipment! That's bad for Halal eaters, Kosher eaters, and Vegans customers!

Good Morning Lazeena,

Thank you for your recent email to Barilla America, Inc.

The Barilla Green & Black Olive contains wine. The Barilla Three Cheese sauce contains cheese. Both of these products are made on the share equipment with our other sauces.

We hope that you continue to enjoy Barilla Pasta & Sauces.

Regards,
"D"
Consumer Relations Barilla America, Inc.

Prego Pasta Sauce

Prego's pasta sauces are ALL haram, except for the Organic Sauces:

• Organic Tomato & Basil Italian Sauce
• Organic Mushroom Italian Sauce

I wasn't told what was in the rest of them which made them impermissible, but I was advised by Campbell to not consume them if I didn't eat products with animal derivatives in them. The Organic sauces are also Vegan I was told.

Classico Pasta Sauces

It seems that most of their sauces are good alhamdulillah, in comparison to a lot of the other brands I've learned about.

Here's what to keep in mind when shopping for their sauces:

• PARMESAN CHEESE: made using microbial enzymes, so if ONLY Parmesan cheese is in it, it's okay
• ROMANO CHEESE: derived from animals
• ALL OTHER CHEESES: are animal derived
• Avoid if any type of alcohol is listed in the ingredients
• Even though mainly Parmesan is used in the Alfredo sauces, the cheese for Alfredo sauces are specially made and therefore DO contain animal ingredients.

Here's the email I received:

Dear Lazeena,

The source of 'enzymes' in our sauces can be animal or microbial. The red sauces that contain Romano cheese, the source of the enzymes is animal. For those red sauces that contain Parmesan cheese, the source of the enzymes is microbial. In all Alfredo sauces, the cheese 'enzymes' are derived from animal sources. Alcohol is not used in our product, if it is used that would appear on the ingredient statement.

Heinz Consumer Resource Center

The website lists their many variety of sauces here, and also includes the ingredients label.


I did my own research and compiled this list of which sauces are halal and which are haram

Halal:

• Triple Mushroom
• Organic Tomato, Herbs & Spices
• Tomato & Basil
• Roasted Garlic
• Traditional Sweet Basil
• Organic Spinach & Garlic
• Marinara with Plum Tomatoes
• Sun-dried Tomato
• Fire-Roasted Tomato & Garlic
• Spicy Red Pepper
• Mushroom & Ripe Olives
• Caramelized Onion & Roasted Garlic
• Spicy Tomato & Basil

Haram/Questionable:

• Four Cheese
• Italian Sausage with Peppers and Onions
• Vodka Sauce
• Spicy Tomato & Pesto
• Florentine Spinach & Cheese
• Cabernet Marinara with Herbs
• All Alfredo Sauces

I'd like to at least try these =) mmmm *drool*

Francesco Rinaldi Pasta Sauce

The following pasta sauces are the only ones without any animal derived ingredients:

• Marinara
• Garden Combo
• Diavolo
• Super Mushroom
• Tomato & Basil
• Mushroom & Onion
• Sweet & Tasty

The rest are not okay. For a full list of their sauces with their ingredients you can check here, in case you're wondering why a certain type is not okay.

I was wondering why Super Mushroom and Mushroom & Onion were okay but regular Mushroom was not, this is because there is cheese in the regular Mushroom variety and the 2 listed on the 'okay' list do not have cheese.

Lazeena

Thank you for the follow up.

You are correct regarding the various sources for enzymes and rennet used to make cheese. We do use a variety of difference cheeses in our sauces, and several are made with enzymes sourced from ruminants (cow, sheep, and goat).

With this in mind however we do make a selection of sauces which do not contain cheese or any other ingredients sourced from animals. Among these are our Marinara, Garden Combo, Diavolo, Super Mushroom, Tomato & Basil, Mushroom & Onion, and Sweet & Tasty sauces.

A complete listing of our sauces is available at:

http://www.francescorinaldi.com/products/products.asp

Clicking on the link for each sauce will bring up the ingredient listing for each.

Please note that our Marinara and our Tomato Basil sauces in 24 oz jars are both certified Kosher.

As always, let me know if I can provide further info

Thanks,
"MS"

Pork in Ragu Pasta Sauces

I always avoid any sauces with cheese in it, because most likely it would be parmesan cheese, which is usually haram. However, some people seem to be not so hardcore in that field.

Ragu responded to an email I sent them saying that most of the cheeses used in their sauces are pork derived cheeses! They said that if any of the sauces say CHEESE in the ingredients, then its best to assume there is pork in it. I guess it's also safe to say any of these sauces containing RENNET or WHEY would then most likely be pork derived.

Their webpage does not contain an ingredients list, otherwise I would have sifted through those and just listed which ones are specifically haram and which ones arent... but I guess that leaves us then with some investigation-type work to do when we're ready to pull some Ragu off the shelf at the market.

So remember - No Ragu with meat flavor (doi!), cheese, rennet, or whey inshaAllah.

Here is the email I received:

Hello Lazeena,

Thanks for writing!

Ragu Sauces do not contain animal or animal derived ingredients unless listed on label, e.g., cheese, cream, etc. The label may also specify that the product is flavored with "beef" or "meat" . The "Meat" is always beef. However, the cheese in products may be produced using ingredients derived from pork. As such, you must check each label. If the product contains cheese, then you must assume it contains a pork derivative.

We hope this information is helpful in assisting you to make the right decisions!

Kind regards,
Your friends at Ragu
RR