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It is the expectation of Halal consumers that the meat they buy in retail shops and restaurants are ethically and legally reared and slaughtered in approved premises to protect animal welfare and public health. While this may be the case in multinational and well-established supermarkets due to due diligence on the part of retailers, there is evidence to suggest that some independent retail shops and ethnic restaurants in the UK partake in selling meat from illegally slaughtered animals. It is a crime that involves many players, but usually masterminded by rural entrepreneurs, including rogue farmers who supply the animals for illegal slaughter and further processing into smokies, or as part of the Islamic festival of Qurbani, in makeshift abattoirs. The purpose of this paper is to highlight illegal slaughter of sheep for the Halal market and how these impacts on food integrity and animal welfare.

This paper examines the legality of slaughter in accordance with UK animal welfare and food safety legislations. The documentary research approach is adopted to examine available information on the activities of organised criminal gangs in the production of smokies and their possible involvement in Qurbani fraud.

This paper demonstrates the involvement of some rogue farmers who are facilitating the smokies trade and illegal slaughter of sheep during the Qurbani sacrifice. It is worth noting that while these illegal activities occur in the Halal sector, the perpetrators are not always Muslims. The processing of illegally slaughtered sheep takes place in unhygienic conditions which is of food safety, public health concern and may violate the religious rules around slaughter.

Illegal slaughter for the Muslim sacrifice of Qurbani is underreported, this paper aims to highlight the animal welfare and food safety aspects of this type of slaughter, in addition to those slaughtered for smokies production.

Because of the economic significance of the Halal meat market, many food business operators have started trading in Halal meat products. Some businesses rely solely on the services of Halal certification bodies (HCBs) to assure Halal consumers as to the authenticity of Halal meat products. However, the lack of unified national or global Halal standards has resulted in confusion as to what is authentic Halal. This paper aims to survey HCBs in the UK to highlight the major differences between the various Halal standards with regard to Halal meat production.

Out of 15 HCBs that the authors contacted, 9 agreed to participate in the study. Respondents were asked to indicate what slaughter practices are acceptable according to their standard and further indicate if their respective organisations carried out speciation testing to detect the presence of foreign deoxyribonucleic acid in certified Halal products.

All nine certifiers indicated that they owned and operated according to a written Halal standard. The majority of certifiers indicated that they accepted pre-slaughter stunning if the stunning did not result in the death of animals prior to exsanguination, a Muslim should perform the slaughter and a short prayer must be recited and only manual (by hand) slaughter is acceptable.

The findings give an insight into acceptable and prohibited procedures during Halal meat production in the UK. Abattoir operators, meat processors and retailers can use this as a guide when selecting suitable Halal certifiers for their businesses.

The study reveals that there are a number of HCBs in the UK who are all operating according to the different interpretation of the Halal dietary laws. The paper further highlights the different slaughter procedures that are acceptable and prohibited to different certifiers.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of different understandings regarding the concept of “what constitutes halal” and “who determines this concept?” In practice, this equates to contemporary legal understandings vs religious understandings. The paper further aims to provide an overview of competing Muslim understandings regarding the concept of “What does or does not constitute halal slaughter?” In practice, this equates to evaluating the application of no stunning at all upon an animal (unanimous acceptance) vs the application of reversible stunning upon an animal (contested).

The study includes a review of prior literature and considers the current scenario of the halal poultry trade and raises important questions regarding Islamic dietary practices, halal food integrity, religious and animal welfare understandings. Three key questions were raised: “To what extent does stunning impact halal slaughter?”; “Who determines what is halal slaughter?”; and “What are the variations and tensions between legal and religious understandings of halal slaughter?”.

The examination of such requirements and concomitant consumer and provider expectations is underpinned by a study of an operational framework, i.e. industry practices with poultry (hand slaughter, stunning, mechanical slaughter, etc.), ethical values and market forces to appraise whether there is a point of convergence for these that can be beneficial for both seller and consumer concerns. This paper has considered different perspectives on the religious slaughter and provided an overview of competing understandings regarding the above concepts.

This study although academic and philosophical in nature, raises questions on route to suggesting future research directions. It provides real value in stimulating more research in the area of halal food production and contributes to the understanding of different slaughter requirements for religious slaughter and the meat industry. It further sheds light on not only the religious and secular legal frameworks on animal slaughter and welfare but also the variations in understanding between them and provides examples of attempts to bridge any gap. The paper highlights the importance of halal food based on religious values and its implications for wider society.

This paper aims to seek the understanding and opinion of meat consumers and Islamic scholars in Ghana, on preslaughter stunning of livestock, and its effects on meat patronage by consumers.

A total of 170 meat consumers and 19 Islamic Scholars were interviewed to examine their perception and levels of understanding of pre-slaughter stunning of livestock, and whether stunning had any influence on their meat purchasing decisions. Descriptive statistics and Probit regression model were used to analyse the data obtained.

It was observed that majority (94.4%) of the meat consumers had no idea on what pre-slaughter stunning of livestock entails. However, 32.7% concurred that stunning is capable of reducing the pain associated with neck cutting of slaughter animals. Evidence from the Probit analysis suggested that variables such as age, marital status, religion, source of meat, product label and Muslims’ religiosity negatively influenced the willingness to consume meat from animals stunned prior to slaughter. In contrast, variables such as gender, knowledge on stunning, beef as the preferred meat, pain reduction and knowledge on stunning, positively influenced the willingness to consume same. The level of education and knowledge on pre-stunning is associated with the acceptance of pre-slaughter stunning of livestock among Islamic Scholars

Even though the study is Islamic oriented, majority of the respondents except the Islamic scholars were non-Muslims. Given this, the implications of the study have been differentiated for both Muslims and non-Muslims.

The findings present an opportunity for researchers, retailers and Islamic scholars to increase education around different slaughter technologies so that consumers can understand these methods to make informed purchasing decisions. Higher educational institutions such as agriculture and veterinary schools can also use the findings to develop future modules around animal welfare. The research can also inform governments, non-governmental organisations and retailers in the formulation of future policies on animal welfare. Further research is also needed to investigate the welfare aspects of slaughter with and without stunning and how to address any lapses in animal welfare.

From animal welfare standpoint, the results may be interpreted to imply that consumers’ purchasing decisions are not based on animal welfare indices. From halal perspective, it implies that Muslims are consuming products that may have been slaughtered using stunning techniques that contravene the rules of halal slaughter.

Despite the popularity of pre-slaughter stunning and relative literature in the industrialised world, it appears to be less researched in developing countries like Ghana. Besides, there is a lack of consensus among Islamic jurists in interpreting Islamic scriptures on pre-stunning. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of studies on the reasons apart from the interpretation of Islamic scriptures, which influences Islamic scholars' stance on pre-stunning in Ghana.

This study analyses consumers’ perception of meat quality and safety in Afghanistan at the pre-harvest, harvest and post-harvest stages.

Qualitative data were collected through seven focus group discussions with 52 participants in Kabul and Bamyan, Afghanistan, between September and December 2020. A qualitative content analysis was undertaken using the Total Food Quality Model and the MAXQDA software.

At the pre-harvest stage, both sedentary and nomadic ruminants’ meat was perceived as high in quality and safety, with lower food safety hazards, unlike urban-raised ruminants’ meat. At the harvest stage, supermarket meat was perceived as better in hygiene, but not in freshness. Additionally, there were doubts about the Halal-slaughtering of this meat. Conversely, butchery meat was perceived as fresh, natural and trustworthy, but unhygienic. At the post-harvest stage, the most important quality attributes before purchase were color, freshness, place-of-origin, safety and Halal-slaughtering, and after purchase were taste and tenderness. Lack of consumer trust was also noticed for the formal institution, i.e. supermarket meat.

This study provides valuable new results from Afghanistan that could be transferred to other Islamic-developing countries given the similarities in their meat industry, i.e. availability of both formal and informal institutions, and the sensitivity of Muslim consumers to Halal-slaughtering. Nonetheless, the qualitative nature of the study design demands further research, employing, e.g. a quantitative approach. Future studies conducted in other countries with similar context could validate the results of this paper.

Knowledge on consumer behavior in Afghanistan is scarce. The present study is one among a few that provides empirical evidence on Afghan consumers. Additionally, it is the first study to compare consumers’ perceptions of traditional butchery meat and supermarket meat.

This study aims to investigate the factors that motivate Muslim consumers to pay for halal-certified food.

Data were collected through a survey of 272 Muslim consumers in Malaysia. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares technique.

The results showed that animal slaughter, halal logo, food quality and religious commitment have a positive effect on the willingness to pay for halal food. Religious commitment positively moderates the relationship between storage and transportation and the willingness to pay for halal-certified food.

Policy makers as well as managers of halal food companies can benefit from this study which provides insight into ways to increase demand for halal food.

The findings contribute to the literature on halal foods by illustrating the factors that determine Muslim consumers’ willingness to pay for halal food. This study also extends the literature by testing the moderating role of religious commitment.

The purpose of this study is to identify the risks that exist in halal meat supply chain activities and to carry out a risk assessment using the fuzzy best-worst method (FBWM) along with mitigating risks using the risk mitigation number (RMN).

The method used is to collect several literature reviews related to the halal meat supply chain, which has information relevant to the risks of the meat industry in Indonesia. Then, a focus group discussion was held with several experts who play a role in the meat industry in Indonesia, and 33 identified risks were identified in halal meat supply chain activities. The proposed methodology uses FBWM and RMN in conducting risk assessment and mitigation in the meat industry in Indonesia.

The analysis reveals that priority risk is obtained by using the global weight value on the FBWM, and then risk mitigation is carried out with RMN. Priority mitigation strategies can mitigate some of the risks to the meat industry in Indonesia. The proposed mitigation strategy is designed to be more effective and efficient in preventing risks that can interfere with product halalness in halal meat supply chain activities in the Indonesian meat industry.

The implications of this study highlight the need for collaboration among stakeholders, improved risk assessment methodologies and the expansion of research into other halal supply chains. By addressing these implications, the halal industry can enhance its integrity, consumer confidence and overall contribution to the global market.

This research provides an integrated approach to identifying, analyzing, assessing and mitigating risks to the meat industry in Indonesia.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of halal awareness on the relationship between halal supply chain knowledge and purchase intention for halal meat products in the millennial generation.

The quantitative approach with the respondents of 177 millennial generations in Indonesia is selected to understand the relationships between variables. Structural equation model-partial least square is used to analyze the relationship between variables.

The findings of this study found that the purchase intention of halal products in the millennial generation is influenced by several factors such as halal supply chain knowledge, halal certification and logo and religious beliefs. However, the results of this study also show that concern for halal products failed to moderate the relationship between these three main variables on the purchase intention of halal products.

This study provides insights into the concern that strengthens the relationship between the main variables on the intention to purchase halal meat products for the millennial generation.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the import demand function for halal meat in member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and to suggest some policy recommendations for OIC members that can enhance intra-OIC halal meat trade.

By using an augmented gravity model, this study empirically estimates the major determinants of halal meat import demand in OIC member countries. Moreover, a major determinant is the difference in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh).

The results of this study show that the variation in Islamic jurisprudence is one of the primary determinants of intra-regional trade of halal meat import demand in OIC member countries.

Although trade flows are set up in several years and lag variables are well capable to examine trade flows, this study only includes the static nature of halal meat trade flows toward selected top 20 OIC member countries.

This study suggests that developing a common halal meat market and one halal certification body under the OIC can enhance intra-OIC halal meat trade, this may be a challenge given the five diverse interpretations of halal meat within Islamic jurisprudence among OIC member countries.

This paper identifies the role of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) in determining the import demand of halal meat in OIC countries, which has not been addressed in empirical literature. It also provides some policy implications to ameliorate the declining trend of intra-OIC trade flows of halal meat.

There is a growing demand of Halal products and services in a number of non-Muslim countries. Although Muslim consumers have been studied in several research studies but there is dearth of empirical studies about the perceptions of non-Muslims towards Halal. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of non-Muslims towards Halal products and services.

The data were collected from non-Muslims of UK through snowball sampling technique. In total, 29 interviews were conducted. The consumer perceptions were explored about Halal foods. The qualitative data were analysed for thematic analysis by adopting Spiggle’s steps for data analysis.

It was found out that majority of the non-Muslims have positive perceptions regarding the Halal products and services as far as quality is concerned. The themes which emerged from these interviews were quality, knowledge about Halal, acculturation and animal welfare issues.

This study will guide the Halal marketers about how to market the Halal products and services from the non-Muslim customers.

This is probably among the rare studies on non-Muslims regarding their perceptions towards Halal.