The Truth About "Halal" Labels
Halal labels and ‘certifications’ have become meaningless marketing terms meant to deceive conscientious Muslims who want to make good choices and avoid cruelty to animals. Why?
What Does Halal Mean?
There is no single global authority overseeing the use of "halal" labels on products, nor is there unified agreement about what "halal" certifications must mean.
Companies can use their own halal label with zero oversight since there is no single authority that inspects or regulates products marketed with halal labels.
Companies can use their own halal label with zero oversight since there is no single authority that inspects or regulates products marketed with halal labels.
How Are Animals Treated on “Halal” Farms?
Halal guidelines vary wildly so it is impossible to know how every farm treats animals.
However, many meat and dairy producers in Muslim-majority countries are adopting the industrial practices of “factory farms” common in Western countries.
Two out of every three farmed animals in the world are raised in these types of places, including in the Muslim world.
However, many meat and dairy producers in Muslim-majority countries are adopting the industrial practices of “factory farms” common in Western countries.
Two out of every three farmed animals in the world are raised in these types of places, including in the Muslim world.
Common practices include:
- Many farms cram several egg-laying hens into a tiny cage that is typically smaller than a piece of paper. The birds are unable to move or spread their wings and often succumb to injuries from overcrowding. They often won’t even see or feel sunlight or breathe fresh air until they’re shipped to slaughter at the end of their egg-laying life.
- Birds on “cage-free” or “free-range” farms are typically crammed by the thousands into windowless sheds. Some farms that give their birds access to the outdoors simply open a few doors to a barren patch of land, that many of the birds can’t even reach because of the crowding inside.
- Chickens used for meat are commonly raised in windowless sheds with little to no access to the outdoors. The birds who are bred to grow unnaturally large bodies are often unable to move.
- Since mammals only produce milk after pregnancy, workers on dairy farms artificially inseminate female cows and goats. When the females give birth, workers forcibly separate the babies and the mothers so the milk can be harvested for human use. Mothers who are unable to bond with their young suffer mental distress and anguish after the forced separation which is un-Islamic.
- Every year, Australia exports millions of live sheep on massive, filthy, crowded ships to Muslim majority countries where they are killed in small markets and industrial slaughterhouses. The ships are overcrowded, the animals sit and stand in floors soaked with feces and filth, and many die from stress, extreme weather conditions, or starvation during the weeks-long journey. Prior to being shipped, these sheep endured a number of un-Islamic practices in the wool industry including live-lamb cutting (chunks of lambs' flesh are cut off) and violent and painful shearing.
Is Halal Meat Cruel?
International organizations and governments have exposed shocking cruelty inside farms and facilities that have marketed products as “halal”.
Notable exposés into facilities that marketed products as “halal”:
A groundbreaking investigation at Superior Farms, the largest lamb supplier in the United States, showed animals being stunned more than once, animals who could see dead animals before they were killed, a live newborn in a dirty trash can, amongst other shocking revelations.
Investigations at SEVEN halal-certified slaughterhouses in Indonesia revealed workers killing animals in front of others, violently twisting their tails, and animals thrashing and kicking as they were dragged down the line.
An investigation at a Canadian slaughterhouse that slaughters chickens, lambs, goats, and sheep documented:
“chickens being subjected to repeated incidences of undue suffering, avoidable pain, and distress. Chickens lifted their heads to avoid being stunned, possibly leaving them still conscious, resulting in the rhythmic flapping of their wings during the slaughter process. Transport crates were roughly handled and were seen being walked on by workers. Crowded crates were unloaded at sharp angles, seemingly causing injury to birds' wings, beaks, feet, and feathers sticking out of crates that resulted in blood on the outside of crates. Crates with openings on both top and bottom and many in disrepair allowed chickens to escape and resulted in chickens caked in fecal matter, urine, and/or blood being moved straight from transportation onto the meat processing line, creating a possible threat to food safety."
The footage obtained during this investigation is so disturbing that it can only be viewed on YouTube:
At Halal Farms USA Inc., a truck driver was seen electroshocking a cow “who had collapsed and was crying out, and kick her three times as another worker yanked her up by a nose lead—a “control tool” involving a ring or set of pliers inserted into the animal’s nose and attached to a rope or chain.” Another report revealed that goats were denied water.
An investigation at a major lamb and beef supplier in the U.K. revealed how sheep were:
“having their throats repeatedly cut, as many as seven times in one case, in contravention of the law… Animals flailed and fitted, having been systematically moved unlawfully before they had enough time to lose consciousness… On three occasions a stockman was caught on camera deliberately picking sheep up by their fleeces and physically throwing the animals, in addition to roughly handling others. Whilst deliberately inflicting cruelty on one animal, the stockman shouts: “See ya! F**k you."
The footage obtained during this investigation is so disturbing that it can only be viewed on YouTube:
The U.S. government temporarily suspended operations at Dillsburg Halal Meat, after a federal inspector reported “that he saw an employee kick a dying lamb in the face.” The employee allegedly laughed about it after the inspector confronted them.
“sheep kicked in the face; smashed into solid objects headfirst; picked up and hurled by legs, fleeces, throats and ears. A worker standing on the neck of a conscious sheep, then bouncing up and down. Slaughterhouse workers erupting into laughter at a sheep bleeding to death with spectacles drawn around her eyes in green paint. A worker holding a sheep by her throat and pulling back a fist as if to punch her. Slaughtermen taunting and frightening the sheep by waving knives, smacking them on the head and shouting at them.”.
Can Muslims Eat Meat and Dairy?
We are not required to eat animals although we are permitted to do so. This is because there may be some settings in which we have no other choice than to eat an animal for survival.
It is entirely possible to live a healthy, happy, and pious lifestyle without causing harm to animals.
It is entirely possible to live a healthy, happy, and pious lifestyle without causing harm to animals.
Many Muslims are increasingly choosing to eat plant-based or "vegan" foods instead of meat and dairy from animals. “Meats” that are made from plants are the only ones that we should trust as truly halal and tayyib.
Eating meat doesn't just cause the violent, unnecessary deaths of billions of animals but animal agriculture is also destroying our environment.
Eating meat doesn't just cause the violent, unnecessary deaths of billions of animals but animal agriculture is also destroying our environment.
Labels such as “halal” and “humane” have become meaningless marketing terms to deceive and exploit Muslim consumers who want to do the right thing
As Muslims, we must take action to strive against injustice in society. We cannot standby as profit-hungry animal industries usurp “halal” to exploit Muslims’ goodwill. We have a duty to choose vegan or plant-based products that are actually halal and tayyib instead of questionable meat and dairy products that use deceitful and untrustworthy “halal” labels.
Prophet Muhammad PBUH said, “Whoever among you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; if he cannot, then with his tongue; and if he cannot, then with his heart — and that is the weakest of faith."
Muslim
Muslim
Allah SWT endowed us with the capacity to think critically, make choices, and act upon them. We are all born with the Fitrah, knowing right from wrong. We must live up to our duty to be responsible caretakers of Allah's creation, which includes animals.
Whoever recommends and helps in a good cause becomes a partner in it. And whoever recommends and helps in an evil cause shares in its burdens and Allah has power over all things.
Quran 4:85
Quran 4:85
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