Alcohol Used In Bread, Cakes Etc
Your confusion is understandable, especially when you live in a non-Muslim country where alcohol is already part of the wider food culture and it’s simply not realistic to investigate every product in detail. Islam does not expect believers to live in constant suspicion or anxiety. Accountability in Islam is tied to knowledge, intention, and reasonable ability, not to what is hidden, unavoidable, or practically impossible to control. Allah does not burden a person beyond their capacity, and living in such societies is itself a real limitation. The Islamic concern about alcohol in food is not mainly about chemistry or intoxication, but about intentional choice and normalization. When alcohol is clearly and deliberately added to food as an ingredient and a person knowingly chooses it while reasonable alternatives exist, Islam discourages that choice because food is a daily habit and Islam wants to keep alcohol out of normal consumption where possible. However, this does not mean that Muslims are required to scrutinize every label or avoid food whenever there is uncertainty. If alcohol is present only as an incidental or unavoidable trace in industrial food, or its use is unclear and not intended for intoxication, then there is no sin in consuming it. In non-Muslim countries, alcohol is often embedded in production systems in ways individuals cannot realistically avoid. Islam recognizes this widespread difficulty and does not hold people responsible for what they cannot reasonably prevent. The principle is simple: Islam regulates your conscious choices, not the entire environment you are forced to live in. You are accountable for what you knowingly adopt and normalize for yourself, not for what society has already normalized around you.
You can get guidance from the following video of Ghamidi Sahab: Please refer to the video below from 1:16:28 to 1:18:37 https://youtu.be/raf8eKjlC2s?t=3755
Ghamidi Sahab said two things: 1 ). Cooking process which changes the chemical form of Alcohol, makes food halal to consume. 2 ). If cooking wine/alcohol is known to be not intoxicating, even if consumed in large quantity, then there is no issue of prohibition to begin with. What you described does not fall in the above categories as far as I’ve understood the situation. Therefore, it cannot be considered Halal to consume such material where intoxicating alcohol is sprayed on the end product even in small quantity.