Are Cadbury Easter Eggs “Halal”?

Rumours, warnings and much confusion is spreading across social media and the Internet that claim chocolate company Cadbury has made their popular Easter egg range halal.

Much of the confusion arises from many online commentators failing to understand what the term halal means.

To ease the confusion, we have answered the following two questions (with explanations) –

Are Cadbury Easter Eggs in the UK halal?
Are Cadbury Easter Eggs in the UK halal certified?

Are Cadbury Easter Eggs in the UK halal?

Yes. Halal is simply the Islamic word meaning “permissible”. Meaning allowed. If a food item is halal, it simply means a Muslim is allowed to consume it. For example, since water is permissible in Islam, water is halal. The same would apply to most food items.

Since most food items are permissible (halal) to Muslims, it is entirely possible – if not inevitable – that many food items will be halal even if that is not the intention of those who made it. Such products are halal by definition, not by design.

Chocolate is permissible in Islam, so providing the chocolate isn’t produced in a way that would make it forbidden in Islam (e.g. by having prohibited additives added) then chocolate is considered halal. As such, Cadbury chocolate – as well as many other brands of chocolate – is halal. Being halal isn’t the same as being halal certified, though halal products may contain symbols on the packaging stating they are halal.

FYI – If something is not permissible to a Muslim, it is known as haram, the opposite of halal.

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Are Cadbury Easter Eggs in the UK halal certified?

No. A halal certification on a product essentially tells the consumer that a certain regulatory body has certified that the ingredients inside the product are all halal and that the product has been produced in an environment that is permissible in Islam.

This acts as a sort of guarantee, since consumers may not have any way of knowing if the ingredients in a product are all halal, since certain additives we find in many products could potentially be forbidden in Islam. Certain brands opt to have a halal certification to let consumers know that the product doesn’t contain any ingredients that are forbidden in Islam.

However halal certification is not mandatory even if a product is halal, meaning food items may be halal, but are not halal certified.

And this is the case with Cadbury Easter Eggs. Cadbury state their products are halal, and they also state that in the UK they are not halal certified.

Products that are halal certified will have a symbol on the packaging of the regulatory body that certified the product as halal. Some regulatory bodies require products to pay for certification.

Cadbury products elsewhere in the world may be halal certified.

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Cadbury have previously stated on their Facebook page –

In the UK our chocolate products are suitable for vegetarians and those following a Muslim diet, however, they are not Halal certified. The only animal related products we use in the UK are milk and eggs. We take care to point out if and when our products are suitable for particular requirements or not.

To summarise – Cadbury Easter Eggs are halal, since chocolate is halal. They are not halal certified.

Also see our article on rumours that assert the word Easter is being banned or removed from Easter Egg packaging here.