Eating without knowing if food is halaal or not

Question:
Living in the US, I have some friends from Saudi Arabia who eat everything without knowing if its halaal or haraam. Please give me some information on that.

Response:
I am sure you know that Islam prohibits consumption of alcohol, pork, carrion (animal that has died before being slaughtered properly in the name of Allah), blood, animals that have been slaughtered in the name of anyone other than Allah, and animals not slaughtered in the name of Allah. One thing more: When an animal is slaughtered, its blood should be properly drained (called tazkia).

What you need to do, therefore, is to ensure that you consume all food other than drinks, which have alcohol as a part of their ingredients and eatables that are haram. You can consume fruits, vegetables, and fish without any hesitation. As for other items, just make sure that no part of them includes any haram flesh of animals. Kosher meat sold by the Jews satisfies the Islamic conditions generally speaking. However, one has to be careful in ensuring that they do the slaughtering of animals properly.

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