In respect of meat, we have all heard of the two methods of killing the animal. In Halal, the animal is slaughtered slowly with complete draining out of the animal's blood, while following practices of Sharia law. In Jhatka (swift), the animal’s head is severed in one single blow and the animal dies instantly. Muslims eat only Halal meat believing it is healthier as the animal is not given a shock, whereas Sikhs are said to prefer Jhatka meat. However, the matter does not end here.
If products are to be sold to countries following Sharia Law,
they require Halal certification. This has important implications:
a) The certification is not restricted to meat / food products only, and can be obtained for non-alcohol beverage, pharmaceutical and health care products, traditional herbal products, cosmetics and personal care products, etc.
b) The process of halal involves a laid down procedure which can generally be done only by Muslims. Butchers across the country mainly follow this. There are facilitating firms that help in the audit of the business which also comprises obtaining the certification compliant with Halal requirements, Halal systems requirements and Halal staffing requirements. The implications are that Halal requirements are to complied with, in all aspects, including raw materials, packaging etc.
c) The certification has a cost implication – both one time as well as repeated, and is not given by any GOI body but by private Halal certification bodies. Government of India has its FSSAI certification which can be seen on almost all the processed foods.
https://www.indiafilings.com/learn/how-to-get-halal-certification-in-india/
Halal marks vary and might also have the countries name - eg India or America, but might look like this
Many well-known Indian brands are embracing halal-certification to get a better foothold in markets of other countries. Fresh meat brand Licious says that they have decided to supply only Halal meat as business policy, apparently KFC and McDonalds serve only halal products.
The implications of this extend to vegetarians too if they buy halal certified products – in that Sharia Law has been followed/Quran verses might have been recited somewhere along the process. And that costs might include some money being paid to Halal Certification Authorities – the whole practice is something which personally I am not comfortable with.
This is a long post which I have split in two, the next on recent developments and protests, will follow.
Next: Some Issues with Halal Certification
Previous : Manipulated Media
3 comments:
Good blog
certification halal
meaningful insight
Thank you joeresse. At the foot of the post is a link which takes you to a subsequent post on Halal certification. And at the very top is the Index tab giving links to my posts on other topics
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