Is Costco Pizza Halal?

In the US, the Costco food court pizza menu is short. Shoppers can choose cheese or pepperoni. The combo pizza, which had more meat toppings, was removed in 2020 ^[1]. The pizza is made in the store: workers stretch and dock the dough, a machine spreads the sauce, and then the cheese goes on before baking ^[3].

Costco has said its cheese is a blend of provolone piccante, mozzarella and Parmesan ^[2]. We found no halal certificate or halal statement from Costco for any food court pizza. That leaves you to judge the toppings and the cheese yourself, which the next sections cover.

No. The pepperoni on Costco's food court pizza is not halal certified. The sources we found do not say which meat it is made from ^[1]. Because pepperoni is a cured meat that can be made from pork, beef or a mix, you cannot assume it is pork free. Even if it were all beef, the beef would still need halal slaughter to be halal.

Our page on pepperoni explains what to look for in a halal pepperoni. Some Muslims also avoid the cheese pizza because it is made on the same line as the pepperoni. Ask the food court staff how the two are prepared if that matters to you.

The cheese pizza has no meat, so many Muslims see it as the safer choice. It still is not certified, and the open question is the cheese.

Cheese is made with an enzyme called rennet. Rennet can come from animals, microbes or plants. Hard Italian cheeses like Parmesan are sometimes made with animal rennet, and Costco has not said which kind its blend uses ^[2]. Scholars differ on cheese made with rennet from an animal that was not slaughtered in a halal way. Some accept it, and others do not. Our pages on rennet and cheese set out the views.

We also have a page just on Costco cheese pizza.

Costco food court menus change by country. Costco food courts in France and the UK have offered a BBQ chicken pizza with green peppers, and other countries have had BBQ meat and bulgogi pizzas ^[1]. We could not verify a halal certificate for any of these. If you are outside the US, ask the food court staff whether the chicken or meat is halal certified, and ask to see the paperwork.

1. Skip the pepperoni if you only eat certified meat.
2. Think about the cheese. If you follow the view that rennet source matters, the cheese pizza is uncertain.
3. Ask about shared prep. Cheese and pepperoni pizzas are made in the same area.
4. Compare other options. See our pages on Costco hot dogs, Costco chicken and big pizza chains like Domino's.