From menu to verdict in seconds
Paste the menu
Copy any menu, from a website, delivery app, or photo OCR, and paste it in.
AI scans every item
Each dish is analyzed for pork, alcohol, gelatin, non-zabiha meat, and other red flags.
Order with confidence
Filter by status, see reasons, and know exactly what to ask staff before ordering.
The usual suspects on restaurant menus
These are the patterns our scanner watches for across cuisines. Knowing them helps you spot-check too.
Pork & pork products
HaramBacon, ham, prosciutto, pepperoni, chorizo, lard, pork belly
Alcohol in cooking
HaramWine sauce, beer batter, vodka pasta, tiramisu (marsala), bourbon glaze
Non-zabiha meat
DoubtfulBeef, chicken, or lamb with no halal or zabiha label, especially at non-halal spots
Gelatin desserts
DoubtfulMarshmallows, panna cotta, gummy toppings, some mousses
Vanilla & alcohol extracts
DoubtfulVanilla extract in baked goods, liqueur-flavored frostings
Mirin, sake, rice wine
DoubtfulTeriyaki, sushi rice seasoning, ramen broth, Asian glazes
How to read the scanner's verdict
Halal: order with confidence
Vegetarian, vegan, seafood, or items whose ingredients are clearly permissible.
Doubtful: ask staff
Could go either way. Typical cases: meat with no halal label, desserts with vanilla extract, sauces that may contain cooking wine.
Haram: skip it
Explicitly contains pork, alcohol as an ingredient, or other forbidden items.
Frequently asked questions
How does the halal menu scanner work?
Paste the text of any restaurant menu. Our AI reads each dish, identifies ingredients and cooking methods that raise halal concerns (pork, alcohol, non-zabiha meat, gelatin, etc.), and returns a verdict for every item: halal, haram, mashbooh (doubtful), or unknown. It also gives you a quick summary so you can decide at a glance.
Is the menu scanner free?
Yes. You get 3 free scans per month without an account. Create a free account and you get 10 scans per month. No credit card required.
What kinds of menus can I scan?
Any text-based menu works: sit-down restaurants, cafés, fast food, delivery apps, catering menus, wedding menus, hotel breakfast buffets. Just copy the text and paste it in. The tool handles up to 8,000 characters per scan (roughly a full dinner menu).
Why are meat dishes often flagged as doubtful?
Unless a restaurant is explicitly halal or zabiha-certified, the source of their meat is unclear. We default to mashbooh (doubtful) on non-halal venues and ask you to verify with staff. This is the conservative, safer approach.
Can AI make mistakes on menu items?
Yes. AI is fast but imperfect. Unfamiliar regional dishes, chef-specific preparations, or ambiguous names may be misclassified. Always confirm with restaurant staff before ordering, especially for meat and alcohol in sauces or desserts.
Does this replace asking the restaurant?
No. Think of the scanner as your shortlist: it narrows 50 menu items down to the 5 you actually need to ask about. You still want to confirm meat source, cooking wine, and cross-contamination with the staff.
How is this different from the ingredient checker?
The ingredient checker tells you about one additive or E-number at a time. The menu scanner analyzes a whole menu at once, flagging full dishes based on their likely ingredients and preparation.
Do you store the photos I upload?
No. Uploaded menu photos are forwarded once to our AI provider to be analyzed and are never saved to our database, object storage, or logs. Only the text verdicts come back. For text-mode scans we do cache results by menu-text hash so popular menus respond instantly for everyone. Images are never cached.
More free halal tools
Skip the scan. Find halal-certified restaurants.
The Souq lists halal-certified and community-verified restaurants so you don't have to scan a menu every time you eat out.