Relevant Halal Criteria

Not only the following criteria are supervised by the authorities and auditors in slaughterhouses (due to competition law we will only excerpt part of our comprehensive quality assurance system):

Animal welfare: During the transport of slaughter animals it is important to ensure that the animals do not suffer unnecessarily or feel pain. Physical and mental mistreatment of animals is prohibited. During the slaughtering the animals must not be subjected to unnecessary stress or pain. The animals for slaughter should neither see the sharpening of the knife nor the slaughtering process and they should not hear the screams of other animals.

Anaesthesia: All slaughtered animals will be stunned in accordance with the provisions of the German Animal Protection Act and the OIC Guidelines for Halal food. This anaesthetic must not result in the death of the animal in any case.

Slaughtering: During the slaughtering the animals should not be exposed to stress or pain. The front of the slaughtered animal (chest and neck) should show in the direction of Mecca. Proper halal slaughter is done by transection of both arteries and of the trachea and oesophagus – without cutting through the cervical vertebra. The slaughtered animals must bleed out completely. The killing of poultry can also be performed automatically as follows: The Muslim butcher(s) starts the machine by hand. Doing so, the name of God must be called by the butcher:“Bismillah (Allahu Akbar) = In the name of God (God is Great)”. This must be repeated regularly during the slaughter process and for every (re)start of the machine. The cut must be done in accordance with the statutory provisions immediately after the stun.