Is Horlicks Halal?
✅ HalalHorlicks (now owned by Unilever in the UK) is a malted milk drink made from wheat flour, malt, milk, and vitamins. No animal fat, gelatine, or haram additives are present. No halal certification for UK products, but the formulation is widely accepted as halal.
Country
United Kingdom
Product Types
Malted milk drink, Hot drink, Malt drink
Halal Certification
No halal certification for UK products. Horlicks contains dairy and wheat — no animal fat or gelatine.
Next Step
Check specific Horlicks products
A halal brand can still have product-level differences by variant, country, or certification batch.
Is Horlicks Halal?
Horlicks is a malted milk drink with over 130 years of history in the UK. Ownership transferred from GlaxoSmithKline to Unilever, and the product is now widely distributed in the UK and sold under Unilever.
The standard Horlicks formulation includes: wheat flour, malted barley, sugar, skimmed milk powder, and vitamins and minerals. There are no animal fats, no gelatine, and no animal-derived additives beyond the dairy (skimmed milk powder). The vitamins added — including E101 (riboflavin/vitamin B2) and E160a (beta-carotene) — are either synthetic or plant-derived, both halal.
The malted barley and wheat in Horlicks are grain-based and carry no halal concern. No alcohol is added to the product, and the natural fermentation involved in malting does not produce enough residual alcohol to create a concern under mainstream Sunni ruling.
In South Asian markets (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), Horlicks has historically held local halal certification. For the UK product, no certification exists, but the ingredient transparency supports a halal assessment.
The Horlicks Light and Instant Horlicks variants follow the same base formulation with minor additions (inulin for fibre, modified starch) — all halal.
Summary
| Factor | Details |
|---|---|
| Halal certification | None for UK; certified variants in South Asian markets |
| Animal derivatives | Skimmed milk powder (dairy — halal) |
| Gelatine | Not present |
| Key concerns | None identified |
| Verdict | Halal |
Individual Horlicks Products
All products →| Product | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Original Malted Drink | ✅ Halal |
Key E-Codes in Horlicks Products
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