Halal is an Arabic word meaning permitted. For meat, it covers two things: which animals may be eaten, and how they're slaughtered.
What makes meat halal
- A permitted animal. Sheep, goats, cattle and chicken are all permitted. Pork, and animals that hunt other animals, are not.
- Alive and healthy at slaughter. An animal that has died some other way is not halal.
- Slaughtered by a Muslim with a sharp knife, with a swift cut across the throat that severs the windpipe and the main blood vessels.
- The name of God said at the moment of slaughter. This is the tasmiyah: "Bismillah, Allahu akbar".
- The blood drained. Blood itself is not halal.
You'll also hear zabiha, which means an animal slaughtered by hand in this way. Our butcher's dictionary explains more of the words you'll hear at the counter.
What's haram
Haram means forbidden. For food, that includes pork and anything made from it, blood, animals that died before slaughter, meat not slaughtered in the halal way, and alcohol.
Why certifiers disagree about stunning
In the UK, animals are usually stunned before slaughter so they're unconscious. Halal certifiers take different views on whether stunned meat can be halal:
- The Halal Food Authority (HFA) accepts some stunning methods that don't kill the animal, such as a water bath for poultry and electric tongs for sheep, as long as the animal is alive when it's slaughtered.
- The Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC) doesn't accept stunning of any kind, and requires every animal to be slaughtered by hand with the tasmiyah.
Many Muslims follow the ruling of their own scholars. If it matters to you, ask us about where our meat comes from.
Halal in your kitchen
- Keep halal and non-halal meat apart, with separate boards and utensils, if both are in your home.
- Check labels on processed food for gelatine and alcohol, which turn up in sweets, desserts and some sauces.
- "Halal" on a label doesn't tell you which standard it follows. Look for the certifier's name.
Sources: The Halal Life, Halal Food Authority; The Halal Life, Halal Monitoring Committee.