Thursday, August 8, 2013

The Truth About Meat Used In Halal Meals

By Andrea Davidson


The way meat is prepared in foods for Muslims often leads people to believe that their ways are inhumane. The truth is that Muslims respect animals and their methods of preparing meat are designed to protect the animal from undue suffering. It's important to know that halal meals with meat have animals that have been treated with the love and respect they deserve.

These days you cannot go anywhere without encountering halal foods. What many people do not understand is that the meat is prepared to high culinary and hygienic standards, as these are required by Sharia Law. These days the food you get from schools, pubs and hospitals could well be food that has been prepared according to Islamic Law. A great many people think these foods are better than the mainstream products.

Halal is any food that is lawful for Muslims to consume. In terms of meat, the animal that's used also comes into play. For instance, Islam forbids them to eat any product that is derived from a pig. However, there are also restrictions on the way animals are actually killed. Animals have to be healthy and the person doing the slaughtering must dedicate the kill to God.

What is often overlooked by critics of their methods is that Muslims really respect the animals they kill. Animals killed in the name of Islam are not subject to the cruel and brutal deaths that some would have you believe. As in the Jewish religion, the idea is for the animal to receive a quick and painless death. In practice this means cutting the jugular vein, carotid vein and the windpipe of the animal with one swipe of the knife. Afterwards the animal is left to bleed out.

The way meat is killed is increasingly reminiscent of mainstream practices. Around 90% of those animals killed for halal meat are done so by being stunned with a blow to the head first. No-one is absolutely sure as to the suffering an animal undergoes using this method. One reason for the change in the way they're killed could be because it's quicker.

What needs to be mentioned is that Muslims do not use animals that have been abused or have been the subject of cruelty. It should give customers peace of mind to know that livestock is treated very well and that the rights of the animal are respected. This is not always the way with mainstream production practices, where animals are sometimes treated very badly.

All halal food is labelled as such. This means that the food you have chosen is within Islamic law as laid down by the Koran. In essence this means that the food has: no blood products in it and no alcohol. Moreover, what many people do not know is that Muslims do not eat birds of prey or carnivorous animals. The word for such foods is haram, which means forbidden.

These days it's hard to know if the halal meals you're enjoying at a pub or restaurant is halal. However, if it is then you'll know it's been treated humanely. The food is so much a part of mainstream culture that you can find it at national supermarket chains as well as in specialist stores and online.




About the Author: