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Translating an ingredient list: reading a foreign-language label

An import from an online shop, a packet brought back from a holiday, a product from the Turkish or Polish supermarket: the ingredient list is in a language you do not read. Part of it needs no translation at all. Another part becomes less reliable once it has been translated.

Published 21 September 2026

The obvious answer is a translator's camera, and it does give you something readable. But a translated word answers the halal question no better than the original did, and in a few places translating it turns the answer around. This guide sorts out which part of a foreign list is language-independent, which words you actually have to know, and which words look like a problem without being one.

You do not have to translate the E numbers

An E number is the same string of characters across the whole EU. Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 assigns it once, and it appears identically on the pack in every official language. E471 is E471 in Lisbon and E471 in Helsinki. What changes is the class name in front of it: Emulgator, emulsifier, émulsifiant, emulsionante, emülgatör.

So the additive part of a list is readable without a word of the language. You read the number and look it up, for instance in the E number list. In practice that is the larger share of what can be contentious on a pack at all.

Two limits belong with it. First, a manufacturer may use the written-out name instead of the number, and then the list says "mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids" and carries no number. Second, the system is not universal: on packs from the United States an additive generally carries only its name.

Emphasis marks allergens, not halal questions

On every EU pack something in the ingredient list is emphasised, by bold type, capitals or a coloured background. Article 21 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 requires it, and it covers the 14 allergens in Annex II. That too is language-independent: what is emphasised is an allergen.

It just answers a different question from yours. Pork, gelatine and alcohol are not among those 14. The emphasis helps you find milk, egg, fish, crustaceans and sulphur dioxide, and about the ingredients that matter here it says nothing.

Four word families that matter

The rest of a list is mostly harmless. What you really have to learn is four families, and each of them is short.

• Pork: Schwein, Speck, Schmalz, Schinken (de); porc, jambon, saindoux, lardon (fr); maiale, suino, pancetta, prosciutto, guanciale (it); cerdo, jamón, tocino (es); porco, presunto, toucinho (pt); varken, reuzel, spek (nl); domuz (tr); wieprz, szynka, boczek, smalec (pl); خنزير (ar).
• Gelatine: Gelatine (de); gélatine (fr); gelatina (it, es, pt); gelatyna (pl); jelatin (tr); جيلاتين (ar).
• Rennet: Lab, Labferment (de); présure (fr); caglio (it); cuajo (es); stremsel (nl); peynir mayası (tr); منفحة (ar).
• Drinking alcohol: Wein, Bier, Likör (de); vin, bière, rhum (fr); vino, birra (it); vinho (pt); wijn (nl); خمر، نبيذ، بيرة (ar). Which of these actually counts, and why vinegar does not belong with them, is under alcohol in food.

False friends: looks like a problem, is not one

Here is the real reason a foreign label is so uncomfortable. Several entirely harmless ingredients carry one of the syllables above inside the word.

• porcini are Italian cep mushrooms. A mushroom, not a pig, although "porc" sits inside it.
• poularde is a fattened hen. The "lard" in the word is a coincidence.
• Butterschmalz, Pflanzenschmalz, Backschmalz: the German word for lard sits in the name, the pig does not sit in the product. They are clarified butter, plant fat and baking fat.
• Hammelfleisch is mutton. Its first three letters read "ham".
• ham in Turkish means raw or unprocessed. "Ham fındık" is a raw hazelnut and not a cut of pork.
• Weinessig is wine vinegar. The word ends in the German for vinegar, and that is exactly the difference.
• Bourbon vanilla is named after the island of Bourbon, today La Réunion. No whiskey.
• indigo carmine (E132) is made by synthesis. No insect, despite the carmine in the name.
• semoule is French for semolina. Inside it sits "moule", the mussel.
• bovino and ovino are beef and sheep in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. They end in "vino".
• pigment is a colour and contains "pig".

This is not a theoretical list. Every case on it is named in Tayyib's own test suite, because every one of them once produced a wrong result. Porcini, clarified butter, plant fat, raw hazelnut, wine vinegar, Bourbon vanilla, indigo carmine, semolina and pigment read green. Poularde and mutton read doubtful, but for the right reason: it is the meat of a land animal with no halal statement, and not pork.

The other direction: looks harmless, is not

The other half is the more dangerous one, because it stays quiet.

• porcine is the standard wording on imported gelatine and on enzymes. It means from the pig and looks like a technical term.
• saindoux and lardon are French for lard and bacon cubes.
• spek is Dutch for bacon fat, and it is not contained in the German word for the same thing.
• présure is rennet and sounds like something else entirely.
• Apfelwein, Eierlikör, Kräuterlikör: the alcohol sits at the end of the compound rather than the start, and it slips past a quick scan.
• rhum is the French spelling of rum. One letter apart.

This side is tested too: a list with "porcine gelatin", with "jamón", with Apfelwein or with Eierlikör reads red. "Présure" reads doubtful, and "présure microbienne" reads green.

What a translation cannot do

Even a flawless translation gets you only halfway. "Émulsifiant: E471" becomes "emulsifier: E471", and afterwards you know exactly as much as before: the substance can be plant or animal, and the pack does not say. Gelatine is the same. Whether it is beef or pork stands on the label in no language at all.

On top of that comes a mistake you cannot notice. Label words are terms of art, and a translator with no context takes the commoner meaning. The German word Lab is an enzyme; in almost any other context Lab is a laboratory. If the translated text says "laboratory", the result looks entirely plausible and the rennet question has vanished without trace. An empty field is noticeable, a wrong word is not.

That is why Tayyib does not translate the list. It looks for the words in the language they are printed in and translates the reasoning afterwards. How the judgement is reached after that is under how to read an ingredient list.

In short

• E numbers are identical across the EU. Do not translate them, look them up.
• Emphasised means allergen, not halal question. Pork and gelatine are not among the 14.
• Four word families are enough: pork, gelatine, rennet, drinking alcohol.
• porcini, poularde, Hammelfleisch, ham fındık, Weinessig and pigment are harmless.
• porcine, saindoux, spek, présure, Apfelwein and rhum are not.
• A translation gives you the word and never the origin.

Common questions

Is there an app that translates ingredient lists?

Camera translators are plentiful, and for running text they work well. With an ingredient list the translation is only the first of two steps: afterwards you still have to know where the translated substance comes from. Tayyib leaves out the detour and reads the list in the language it is printed in. The explanation comes back in yours.

Are E numbers the same in every country?

In the EU yes. Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 assigns each number once, and it appears identically on the pack in every official language. A number of states outside the EU have adopted the same numbering. The United States has not: there an additive carries only its name, for instance mono- and diglycerides instead of E471.

How do I spot pork in a language I do not read?

By a manageable word family: porc, jambon, saindoux and lardon in French, maiale, suino, pancetta, prosciutto and guanciale in Italian, cerdo, jamón and tocino in Spanish, porco, presunto and toucinho in Portuguese, varken, reuzel and spek in Dutch, Schwein, Speck, Schmalz and Schinken in German, domuz in Turkish and خنزير in Arabic. The least conspicuous word of the lot is porcine, which stands on imported gelatine and on enzymes and means exactly that: from the pig.

What does présure mean on a French cheese pack?

Rennet, the enzyme that sets the milk. It can come from a calf's stomach or be made microbially, and the pack often does not say. Tayyib therefore reads présure as doubtful. Where it says présure microbienne the question is answered and the result is green.

Why does Tayyib read the original text instead of a translation?

Because label words are terms of art and the rarer meaning is what translation loses. The German Lab is an enzyme, in almost any other context Lab is a laboratory. A translation that turns it into laboratory looks entirely plausible, and the rennet question has disappeared. So Tayyib looks for the words in the language they stand in, and translates only the reasoning.

Next: is cheese halal? It all hangs on the rennet →

Note: this article is not a fatwa and not a certification. It explains where the substances named here typically come from and why the origin decides it. In case of doubt, the manufacturer statement or a recognised halal certification applies.