Halal?

I did some checking in the middle of last year on the issues of halal meat. After searching on the web, the two main “authorities” I’ve found are the HMC and the HFA. I read some articles and it’s actually quite scary and worrying the scale of the problem and how far reaching this issue is with all so-called halal food, be it restaurants, suppliers and butchers.

It was interesting to note the different stance between the HMC and HFA regarding “stunning”. Thought I’d share the links here before I lose them.
Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC) link. Check out their newsletters for more information. An updated list of all HMC certified halal butchers and restaurants is also available in the HMC site.

I personally use the HMC approved Imaan Butchers on Green Street, East London. Thing I don’t get is, why are there so few HMC approved butchers in Birmingham? There are more HMC approved butchers in smaller cities, e.g. Coventry. I remember the days when I was a child, my father used to get live chickens from the local farm and we used to slaughter them ourselves – where there’s a will, there’s a way.

UPDATE: Sheikh Brothers Bangla store on Coventry Road, Birmingham is now HMC approved!

It’s not only the meat that we get from our local butchers. We should all be careful and read the ingredients of all products we use on a daily basis: groceries, sweets and confectionary, toiletries etc. A lot of people tend to look out for the vegetarian “V” sign and simply put the item in their supermarket trolley. Please check carefully for alcohol/alcoholic ingredients. Same goes the other way round: where it say “alcohol-free” check for animal ingredients.

I also did some checking at work, where we have different offices across London (I haven’t checked for the regional offices). I was told by the restaurant/catering manager that they checked with the supplier and the chicken is ‘halal’ and they had even obtained a ‘certificate’ from the suppliers with the ‘halal logo’ and displayed it in the kitchen. After consulting with a couple of Muslim colleagues and checking the supplier website, we found out that FairFax Meadows are not HMC approved. Fairfax Meadows are actually supplied with meat from Freeman’s of Newent (FoN). The procedures used by FoN fall outside of the halal meat criteria as specified by the HMC. Please read the report and follow up comments on Masud blog, Zabihah and salaam.co.uk – see links below for more info.

UPDATE: Halal Food debate on Islam Channel

For more information:

• What is Halal? (PDF attached. Article by HMC)
• GMWA Halal Foodguide Service
• Zabihah.com – Guide to eating halal
• The Halal Journal
• World Halal Forum 2008 (KL, Malaysia)
• Muslim Consumer Group
• Masudblog – report on halal slaughter
• Salaam.co.uk
• Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC)
• Halal Food Authority (HFA)

Note: Domino’s Pizza in Birmingham (UK’s first ‘halal’ Domino’s) is using HFA.  KFC is also trialling halal chicken in some of their stores.  They’re also using HFA – see this BBC article for more info. Be careful: stay well clear of these if you do not approve of mechanical slaughter and use of stunning.  Look for the HMC approval instead.