How to List Ingredients on Your Menu: Clear Information for Muslim Customers, Even Without Halal Certification

Write it on the menu, and customers can choose for themselves

The Japan Tourism Agency publishes the “Hospitality Guide for Vegetarian, Vegan, and Muslim Travelers.” The guide’s Reference Volume includes comments from Muslim travelers who visited Japan, and from travel companies that run tours for Muslims. One of the comments about food is that menus do not give enough information.

Menus are often only in Japanese. Even when there is an English menu, it often shows only the names of the dishes, so travelers cannot tell if they can eat them. Menus do not show which dishes are non-pork and non-alcohol. The Reference Volume lists comments like these.

Unlike processed foods, dishes served at a restaurant do not have to show their ingredients. The Q&A on the Food Labeling Standards from the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) covers this point. When restaurants, diners, cafes, and similar places serve dishes, the Food Labeling Standards do not apply, with or without containers or packaging. The only exception is the warning label for beef served raw. So restaurant dishes do not come with an ingredient list like the one on a processed food package.

This means that the information you write on your own menu is an important clue for customers. The Japan Tourism Agency’s guide says to leave the choice of what to eat to each Muslim customer. It recommends that restaurants tell customers what they can and cannot offer.

In this article, we explain what restaurants without halal certification should write on their menus, and how. We base it on the Japan Tourism Agency’s guide and on documents from the Consumer Affairs Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). We checked all the sources on September 28, 2026.

What to write

Items to include

The Reference Volume says there are two kinds of information. Some information, such as whether you use pork or alcohol, you should always give. Other information is fine to give only when customers ask. The guide also lists example items for writing down your restaurant’s approach as a policy: the ingredients you use and do not use, whether you have certification from a third-party body, whether you have a separate kitchen or separate cooking utensils, whether you have dishes for Muslim customers, and whether you have separate tableware and cutlery. The same items are the basics when you write your menu.

Based on the explanations in the Reference Volume, here is what to write for each item.

Item	What to write on the menu
Pork	Whether you use pork, and also lard (ラード), pork bones (豚骨), or processed foods and seasonings whose ingredient list shows “pork” (豚) or “pork-derived” (豚由来)
Alcohol	Whether you use alcohol for cooking, such as cooking sake (料理酒) and mirin (みりん), or seasonings with added alcohol
Meat	Whether the beef and chicken are halal meat
Frying oil	Whether it is the same oil you use to fry pork or non-halal meat
Cooking utensils and tableware	Whether you use separate ones for Muslim customers’ dishes
Drinks	Whether you serve alcoholic drinks
Table seasonings	Whether the soy sauce and other sauces on the table contain pork-derived ingredients or alcohol

On cooking utensils and tableware, a survey in the Reference Volume found that about 40% of the people asked felt uncomfortable if they were not separate. The other 60% or so tended to accept shared ones, to different degrees. If you do not keep them separate, write that you do not. Then customers can decide for themselves.

One case study in the Reference Volume is a restaurant that checked the ingredients and components of its current menu. It found that it could meet Muslim customers’ needs without extra work or cost. To get ready, start by reading the ingredient lists of the processed foods and seasonings you buy. For how to read the origin of additives, see Are Emulsifiers and Gelatin Halal? What the “Origin” (由来) Wording on Ingredient Lists Tells You. For alcohol in seasonings, see Are Soy Sauce, Mirin, Miso, and Vinegar Halal? Checking the Ingredients of Japanese Seasonings for Alcohol.

Write about halal meat separately from pork

When you show dishes without pork, the Reference Volume recommends that you also write whether or not you use halal meat. Not using pork is one thing. Whether the beef or chicken is halal meat is another. If you only write “non-pork” (ノンポーク), customers cannot tell anything about the other meats.

Also write what you use

Writing what you do use also helps customers decide. The Japan Tourism Agency’s guide says the important thing is not whether your approach is strict. It is that you clearly show what you do.

If you write “contains mirin” (みりん使用) on a dish made with mirin, people who want to avoid mirin can skip that dish, and people who do not mind can choose it. If you do not write it, both groups have to ask your staff.

Before you write “halal”

“Made with halal ingredients” (ハラール食材使用), not “halal dishes” (ハラール料理)

The Reference Volume warns about phrases such as “halal dishes” (ハラール料理) and “halal restaurant” (ハラール店舗). People may take them to mean that the restaurant follows strict rules for everything: the ingredients, cooking and storage, tableware, and even the dining area. It recommends that you only talk about the ingredients, so that customers correctly understand that the ingredients you use are halal.

The menu example in the Reference Volume is “うどん（ハラール食材使用メニュー）” (udon, a dish made with halal ingredients) and “Udon (with halal ingredients only).” It does not call the dish itself halal. It describes the ingredients used.

On another page, the Reference Volume also says to leave the decision on what is halal to Muslim travelers, and not to use the word “halal” (ハラール) carelessly. The Japan Halal Association, a certification body, gives a similar warning on its page about certification for restaurants. It says that when Muslims hear “Muslim-friendly,” they take it to mean the food is halal. But in Japan, the term is sometimes used when only part of the menu is halal, and the association says this can cause misunderstandings.

However, some say that these labels themselves help customers feel at ease. Food Diversity.today, a media site about halal information, interviewed several Muslims who have visited Japan. Its article, Muslim Travelers Explain: What Is the Decisive Difference Between ‘Restaurants They Choose’ and ‘Restaurants They Want to Avoid’?, says that one thing the restaurants they liked had in common was a label such as “halal” or “Muslim-friendly.” The real question is not whether to use a label, but whether customers can tell exactly what it refers to.

We compare how different organizations and local governments use the term in What Does “Muslim-Friendly” Mean? How It Differs from Halal Certification, and Standards That Vary by Who Uses the Label. Writing item by item tells customers more than a single word.

Your menu and what you say both count as “representations”

The Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations applies to how you write your menu. The Consumer Affairs Agency has a document on how this Act applies to food representations on menus and dishes. It says that all menus and dish descriptions from restaurants and similar businesses are covered by the Act. Menus inside the restaurant and at the entrance, dish names, and food on display all count as “representations” (表示: labels, descriptions, and claims), and so do spoken explanations.

The same document says that whether a representation violates the Act is judged case by case. It does not look at specific words alone. It looks at the gap between the impression ordinary consumers get from the whole representation and the reality. If you write “non-pork” (ノンポーク) or “no alcohol used” (アルコール不使用), first check that your actual ingredients and frying oil match it.

When you change suppliers, update the menu

If you change the supplier of a seasoning or processed food, the ingredients may change. To keep your menu in line with the actual ingredients, check the ingredient list again whenever you change what you buy, and update the menu to match.

Two types of menu

A separate menu for Muslim customers

The Reference Volume gives two ways to show dishes made with non-pork or halal ingredients. One is to make a separate menu with only those dishes. The other is to write the information next to each dish name.

A separate menu works well for restaurants with only a few such dishes. Customers can simply choose from that menu.

Write it next to each dish name

Writing it for each dish works well for restaurants with many such dishes, or with many dishes where only some ingredients are different. One case study in the Reference Volume is a restaurant that plans to show “PORK FREE” and “ALCOHOL FREE” under each dish.

Examples for each dish

For a dish that contains pork, the Reference Volume gives the example “焼きそば（豚）” and “Fried Noodles (Pork).” If you write the information for dishes with pork as well as dishes without it, customers do not have to guess.

For example, for a vegetable tempura set meal, you could write this in Japanese and English.

• 野菜天ぷら定食　豚や豚由来の材料は使っていません。天つゆにみりんを使っています。揚げ油は、とんかつと同じ油です。 (the Japanese version of the English text below)
• Vegetable Tempura Set　No pork or pork-related ingredients. The dipping sauce contains sweet cooking rice wine (mirin). Fried in the same oil as pork cutlets.

It covers all three points (pork, alcohol, and frying oil), whether they are used or not. People who do not mind mirin can choose this set meal, and people who care about the frying oil can choose another dish. The English phrase “sweet cooking rice wine” is the wording for mirin in the sample phrases in the guide’s Reference Volume.

When your whole menu is adapted

If your restaurant uses no pork in any dish, the Reference Volume recommends saying so where people can easily see it, such as at the entrance, on your website’s home page, on map apps, on social media, or at the start of your menu. Its example is “‘All the dishes’ are non-pork.” (ノンポーク料理の店舗です, “This is a non-pork restaurant.”)

Building a menu description for oyakodon, from ingredient list to final wording

Here we use oyakodon (親子丼, chicken and egg rice bowl) to walk through the process, from checking the ingredients to finishing the menu text. The ingredients and the results of the checks are examples for explanation only. They do not come from any actual restaurant or product.

List every ingredient

For oyakodon, that means chicken, egg, onion, rice, and mitsuba (三つ葉, Japanese parsley), plus the soup stock (だし), soy sauce, mirin (みりん), cooking sake (料理酒), and sugar used in the simmering sauce. List more than the ingredients that appear in the dish name, including the simmering sauce, any marinade, and anything added to finish the dish. If you make your stock from granules or packets, list that product as an ingredient too.

Read the ingredient lists of the products you buy

For the ingredients you buy as products, read the ingredient list (原材料名) on the bag or box. In the oyakodon example, here is where to look.

Ingredient	Words to look for in the ingredient list (原材料名)
Granulated soup stock and mentsuyu (めんつゆ)	豚 (pork), ポークエキス (pork extract), ラード (lard), ゼラチン (gelatin), アルコール (alcohol), 酒精 (ethanol)
Soy sauce	アルコール (alcohol), 酒精 (ethanol)
Mirin and cooking sake	Whether the product name (品名) says 本みりん (hon-mirin), a mirin-type fermented seasoning (発酵調味料), or a mirin-style seasoning (みりん風調味料)
Chicken	Whether it is labeled as halal-certified, and what is written on the box or delivery slip

Hon-mirin, fermented seasonings, and mirin-style seasonings contain different amounts of alcohol. The differences are shown in a table in Are Soy Sauce, Mirin, Miso, and Vinegar Halal? Checking the Ingredients of Japanese Seasonings for Alcohol. An ingredient listed only as “extract” (エキス) may not tell you which animal it came from. In that case, ask the manufacturer. We explain how to ask in How to Spot Pork and Alcohol on Ingredient Lists, and What the Label Alone Can’t Tell You.

Turn the results into one line per item

In this example, suppose the checks gave these results. The ingredient list for the granulated soup stock does not mention pork, but it includes an “extract” whose origin is not stated, and you have not yet been able to ask the manufacturer. The soy sauce lists alcohol as an ingredient. The simmering sauce uses hon-mirin and cooking sake. The chicken is not halal-certified. The dish is not fried, so frying oil does not apply.

Write one line each for pork, alcohol, meat, and what you have not confirmed.

• Pork: We do not use pork or ingredients whose ingredient lists mention pork.
• Alcohol: The simmering sauce contains mirin and cooking sake. The soy sauce also contains alcohol.
• Meat: The chicken is not halal-certified.
• Not confirmed: We have not confirmed the origin of some ingredients in the granulated soup stock.

The text for the menu

Join the four lines and you have the menu text. In Japanese and English, it looks like this.

• 親子丼　豚肉と、原材料名に豚の記載がある材料は使っていません。煮汁にみりんと料理酒を使っています。醤油の原材料にもアルコールがあります。鶏肉はハラル認証のないものです。だしの素の一部の原料は、由来を確かめていません。（2026年11月確認） (the Japanese version of the English text below)
• Oyakodon (chicken and egg rice bowl)　We do not use pork or ingredients whose ingredient lists mention pork. The simmering sauce contains mirin (sweet cooking rice wine) and cooking sake. The soy sauce also contains alcohol. The chicken is not halal-certified. We have not confirmed the origin of some ingredients in the granulated soup stock. (Checked November 2026)

If you leave out the last line, “We do not use pork” may be read as meaning you checked the granulated soup stock as well. Under the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations, discussed earlier, whether something is a violation depends on the overall impression the representation gives. The Japan Tourism Agency’s guide recommends telling customers what you can and cannot do, and that includes writing down what you could not confirm.

Adding the month and year you checked shows which dishes to review when you change suppliers. Once the manufacturer tells you the origin, rewrite the last line.

Words and pictograms, Japanese and English

Use pictograms together with words

The Reference Volume gives two ways to show that you do not use pork or pork-derived ingredients: in words, or with a pictogram. It says many people find pictograms useful, but some Muslims feel uncomfortable seeing a picture of a pig.

The case studies include a restaurant with a “No Pork No Lard” pictogram on its sign at the entrance. Another restaurant plans to add pictograms to dishes for Muslim customers on a menu that opens from a QR code. Do not rely on pictures alone. Adding a written explanation makes misunderstandings less likely.

In English, explain what is in the dish, not just its name

As the comments in the Reference Volume show, if an English menu only gives dish names, customers cannot tell what is in the dishes. The Reference Volume says that even at restaurants that do nothing special for Muslims, simply adding English to dish names and ingredients helps Muslims decide for themselves if they can eat the food. In English too, write whether you use pork, whether you use alcohol, and whether the meat is halal.

The Fukuoka Prefecture Muslim-Friendly Handbook gives these examples of what restaurants can do: show “non-pork” (ノンポーク) and “non-alcohol” (ノンアルコール) on the menu, make a menu with photos or an English menu, and show when seasonings contain alcohol.

For English wording, the sample phrases in the guide’s Reference Volume are a useful reference. We list the main phrases in Japanese and English in How to Answer Questions from Muslim Customers: What to Tell Them About Pork, Alcohol, and Cooking Utensils.

For how to write menus in English and other languages, see How to Make a Multilingual Menu: Add Pork and Alcohol Information to Translated Dish Names.

Write it outside the menu too

Post your policy at the entrance and online

The Japan Tourism Agency’s guide recommends writing down your restaurant’s approach as a policy, and posting it at the entrance or on social media. Case studies in the Reference Volume include a restaurant that put its policy above the meal ticket machine, which customers see as soon as they come in. Another restaurant posts its English menu on Instagram.

A survey in the Reference Volume found that many Muslims use social media, video sharing sites, and map apps to find information about places they travel to. Put the same information in places people can see before they come, as well as on the menu inside. Then they can decide before they visit.

The sample policy in the guide has spaces for the date, the restaurant name, the address, and the website address, in Japanese and English. Adding a date shows when the information is from. It also makes the policy easier to update when you review your ingredients or suppliers.

Drinks and table seasonings

The Reference Volume lists these other ideas besides the menu.

• If you do not serve alcoholic drinks, say so at the entrance and on your website
• For table seasonings, put out products with the ingredients written in English, or label them as non-pork, non-alcohol, and so on
• If you have Muslim cooks or staff, let customers know
• If your restaurant is a type that does not serve meat or pork, such as a seafood restaurant, say what type of restaurant it is

When you also show vegan options

Restaurants that also serve vegetarian or vegan dishes sometimes show those labels together with labels for Muslim customers. Vegan dishes contain no animal-based ingredients, but alcohol such as mirin and cooking sake is not on the list of things vegans avoid. We explain the differences between the two in If It’s Vegan, Is It Halal? What Each Avoids, and What to Check in Vegan Dishes.

MAFF has set a Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS) for how restaurants that serve vegetarian or vegan dishes manage their operations: JAS 0026, “Management of Restaurants to Serve Foods Suitable for Vegetarians or Vegans.” It has items on how to write menus.

• Label vegan dishes and similar dishes so that customers can tell them apart from other dishes
• If you share cooking utensils with other dishes, write this on the menu or elsewhere. The example given is “調理器具は、動物性食品の調理と共用しています。” (Our cooking utensils are also used to cook animal-based foods.)
• Make this information available so that customers can check it before they enter the restaurant
• Unless all dishes are vegetarian or vegan, do not advertise in a way that makes people think they all are

This standard is for vegetarian and vegan food. But its ideas work just as well for labels for Muslim customers: write it so dishes can be told apart, write it when you share utensils, and make the information available before customers come in. If a dish labeled vegan uses alcohol, write that separately.

The items you write on your menu are also a list of facts you can share with customers. On Halal Gohan’s application form for listing your place, you can also choose your answers item by item: how you handle pork and pork-derived ingredients, whether you serve alcoholic drinks, how you handle cooking sake and mirin, and whether and how you separate cooking utensils and frying oil. Listing is free.

Quotes from Japanese sources in this article are our own translations.

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Sources

Primary sources

• Japan Tourism Agency (counselor in charge of receiving foreign visitors), “Hospitality Guide for Vegetarian, Vegan, and Muslim Travelers” (ベジタリアン・ヴィーガン／ムスリム旅行者おもてなしガイド) (in Japanese), April 2024 (p. 6: showing what you offer; p. 29: basic approach), checked on September 28, 2026
  https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/content/001740443.pdf
• Japan Tourism Agency (counselor in charge of receiving foreign visitors), “Hospitality Guide for Vegetarian, Vegan, and Muslim Travelers: Reference Volume” (ベジタリアン・ヴィーガン／ムスリム旅行者おもてなしガイド 資料編) (in Japanese), April 2024 (p. 41: problems and complaints from Muslim travelers; p. 45: survey results on separate cooking utensils and similar items; p. 46: media used to find information; p. 47: key points for serving Muslim customers; pp. 48–50: non-pork and non-alcohol; pp. 52–53: halal ingredients; p. 59: other ideas; pp. 72–75: case studies), checked on September 28, 2026
  https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/content/001740444.pdf
• Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA), “Q&A on the Food Labeling Standards” (食品表示基準Q&A) (in Japanese), last amended April 1, 2026 (General Rules 4 and 5), checked on September 28, 2026
  https://www.caa.go.jp/policies/policy/food_labeling/food_labeling_act/assets/food_labeling_cms201_260401_31.pdf
• Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA), “Approach to Food Representations on Menus and Dishes under the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations” (メニュー・料理等の食品表示に係る景品表示法上の考え方について) (in Japanese), March 28, 2014, partly revised April 1, 2016 (Part 1: introduction; Part 2, Section 3: representations covered), checked on September 28, 2026
  https://www.caa.go.jp/policies/policy/representation/fair_labeling/guideline/pdf/140328premiums_5.pdf
• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), JAS 0026, “Management of Restaurants to Serve Foods Suitable for Vegetarians or Vegans” (日本農林規格 ベジタリアン又はヴィーガン料理を提供する飲食店等の管理方法（JAS 0026）) (in Japanese), established September 6, 2022 (5.6: providing information), checked on September 28, 2026
  https://www.maff.go.jp/j/jas/jas_standard/attach/pdf/index-221.pdf
• Fukuoka-ken Musurimu Shisaku Suishin Kyogikai (a council for promoting Muslim-related measures in Fukuoka Prefecture), “Fukuoka Prefecture Muslim-Friendly Handbook: Hospitality Guide for Muslim Travelers” (福岡県ムスリムフレンドリーハンドブック ～ムスリム旅行者おもてなしガイド～) (in Japanese) (pp. 7–8: what Muslim-friendly facilities and shops do), checked on September 28, 2026
  https://www.pref.fukuoka.lg.jp/contents/muslimfriendly.html
• Japan Halal Association, “Halal Certification of Food and Drink for the Domestic Market” (国内向け飲食料品ハラール認証) (in Japanese) (note on how terms are used), checked on September 28, 2026
  https://jhalal.com/cert_for_food_service

Secondary sources (cited in the article and identified as such)

• Food Diversity.today, “Muslim Travelers Explain: What Is the Decisive Difference Between ‘Restaurants They Choose’ and ‘Restaurants They Want to Avoid’?” (ムスリム旅行客が語る「選ばれる飲食店」と「避けたい飲食店」の決定的な差とは？) (in Japanese), June 23, 2025 (interviews by Food Diversity Inc. with several Muslim tourists who have visited Japan), checked on September 28, 2026
  https://fooddiversity.today/article_183913.html