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Friday, February 27, 2009

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*

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why would anyone put vodka in pasta sauce, I wonder? It's just flavourless alcohol. Puzzling.

I was wondering about these sauces, thanks for looking into it!

Noor al Haqiqa said...

Great little site Sister. I will be honest, I just avoid anything that has words I cannot wrap my tongue around without stopping to consider how to pronounce them. I don't eat any of the things you have listed so far at all although I did eat Classico in the past. And Oreos, in the past.

However, now I look at labels constantly because I am checking for place of origin or parent company because of the boycott of all things putting $$$ back into Israeli pockets.

SO all Dove products are OUT. Almost ALL Hair colourings are OUT. Clairon, Redkin, I now pay twice as much so I get more roots .. to buy one from Switzerland. It means knowing brands, who makes what, and purchasing accordingly.

To me, the Zionist menace is the main thing driving my purchase dollar. But since my diet is very simple that is not so much of a problem regarding haram foods. I buy organic whatever I can instead.

To this end, however, there is no place to get halal meats where I live. I was buying Kosher instead. That has stopped of course. I prefer, to take my chances with local free range or properly tended birdies than support Israel. What would you do in such a case? Just a rhetorical question for the fun of it.

Oh and all Danone products are OUT as of course are Starbucks, Mc Donalds ... the top two offenders.

And to answer Megan, they would put the alcohol in as a preservative for some specific ingredient I would imagine.

Thanks for doing the legwork on this stuff. Good idea!

Noor al Haqiqa said...

BTW I have added you to my Blog List of sites to visit for my few and far between readers! You are in good company here... smiles.

Anonymous said...

Yes Barbara too many companies support Israel... but so do our tax money also. We can only do so much.
Anyway I did not think so many things could be in pasta sauce to make it not permissible, thanks a lot for investigating. I think I will stick to this brand over all so far which you've looked into

Atiyya said...

I just got this mail concerning Classico pesto sauses
Dear Mrs...

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. As per your inquiry, the
enzymes used in our Classico Pesto products are microbial. The source of
the cheese is cow's milk based.

Sincerely,

Gina D. Woodside
Consumer Services Coordinator
Classico Products of Canada

k said...

jazakallah sister. I was talking on the phone with my husband just now. He was in the grocery store and was about to buy this company's Alfredo sauce. I couldn't find any info as to whether it is halal online, and then i remembered your blog, and searched and came across this post. So no classico alfredo sauce for me. jazakallah again

purplerose said...

Assalamualaikum,

I would like to find out if Heinz Cream Of Tomato Soup is halal or not,as it contains cream.

Anonymous said...

Assalamualaikum, the gmo stated in the ingredient contents of the classico pasta sauce is from what origin? Is it halal?