Are Oreo Cookies Made With Pork And Banned For Muslims?

Claim:

Oreo cookies are made with pork products and are forbidden for Muslims.

Evaluation:

In January 2023, Snopes received an email from a reader asking if it was true that Oreo cookies are made from pork fat and pig’s milk. The question was likely prompted by the proliferation of a Facebook meme around the same time claiming that “Oreo cookies are banned for Muslims because they’re made with fat and pig’s milk.” We have not found any evidence that Oreo cookies (cookies) contain pork.

Here is an example of the meme, as posted on Facebook on January 11:

Islam has a number of dietary laws which contains a list of foods that Muslims are not allowed to eat. This list includes anything that contains pork or pork by-products. Forbidden foods are called “haram”. Permitted foods are called “halal”. Commercially produced foods often carry “halal certified” labels.

We started our research by examining the ingredient labels on Oreo products. These are, for example Ingredients in “original” Oreos, according to the manufacturer, Mondelez International:

WHEAT FLOUR, sugar, palm oil, rapeseed oil, low-fat cocoa powder 4.3%, WHEAT starch, glucose-fructose syrup, raising agents (ammonium carbonates, potassium carbonates, sodium carbonates), salt, emulsifier (SOYA lecithins), acidifier regulator (sodium hydroxide), flavoring.

Note that there are no pork (or other animal products) ingredients on this list. As far as we have been able to ascertain, none of the above ingredients are considered haram (forbidden) for Muslims. Similar ingredients, with slight variations, are listed for other Oreo products. None contain pork or pork by-products.

So are Oreos halal (allowed)? Oreo UK’s website states:

Oreo cookies made in Europe are not Halal certified, but their composition or manufacturing process does not make them unsuitable for the Muslim diet. The exceptions to this are Oreo Strawberry Cheesecake, Oreo Choc’o Brownie, Oreo Enrobed Milk & White, Oreo Cadbury Coated, and Oreo Crunchy Bites Dipped.

We have reviewed the ingredient lists of the products listed above as exceptions to the above specification of “suitable for Muslim diets” and found no listed pork products or by-products. For the record, we also didn’t find any pork products or by-products listed as ingredients in US-made Oreo cookies

Since the meme was apparently quite widespread in India, we turned to a fact check by Indian website Alt.News.in, which said a Mondelez International spokesman informed the publication that all Oreo products made in India are “of vegetarian origin,” confirmed by the green dot on the packaging.

Finally, another fact-checking website, The logical Indianquoted a Jan. 5, 2023 tweet from the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCAE), which said tests had confirmed Oreos contained no animal products:

Given all of the above evidence, Snopes considers the claim that Oreo cookies (cookies) contain pork and are banned to Muslims to be “false.”

Sources