Islamic Slaughtering and
Meat Quality
Dr. Javaid Aziz Awan
National Institute of Food Science and
Technology,
University of Agriculture, Faisalabad
4/13/2015
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INTRODUCTION
Meat indispensable for sound human health
Provides several essential nutrients:
Amino acids
Mineral elements
Vitamins
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INTRODUCTION
Meat subject to spoilage by:
Chemical reactions
Biochemical reactions
Biological agents, including bacteria
Responsible for food-borne diseases
Hence meat be produced so as to:
Minimize chemical and biochemical changes
Prevent chances of bacterial contamination
and growth to preserve quality
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INTRODUCTION
 Slaughtering of lawful animals and birds essential to
prepare for food purposes
 Pre-slaughter management and bleeding methods
regulated by religious practices and legislations
 Earliest recorded laws on handling, care and slaughter
of animals - Ahadith by the Holy Prophet (pbuh)
 These often in response to queries or result of his
(pbuh) personal observations
 These guidelines laid down over 1430 years
 Modern scientific discoveries just testified implications
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ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF
SLAUGHTERING
Islamic method of slaughtering - based on two
important principles:
Tasmiya
Tazkiyah
Tasmiya refers to invoking name of Allah
means slaughter being done with His
permission
This in accordance with several commands
given in the Holy Quran
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ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF
SLAUGHTERING
“Forbidden to you (for food,) are: dead meat,
blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which
hath been invoked the name of other than God;
that which hath been killed by strangling, or by
a violent blow, or by a head long fall, or by
being gored to death; that which hath been
partly eaten by a wild animal, unless ye are
able to slaughter it (in due form) ….………….
(V:4)
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ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF
SLAUGHTERING
Tazkiyah means purification - cleaning meat of
blood by slaughter
Consumption of blood prohibited in Holy
Scriptures:
Holy Bible - Leviticus 3:17 and 7:26
Holy Quran - VI:146
All lawful animals and birds contain blood
Blood must be drained as per these commands
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ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF
SLAUGHTERING
The Holy Prophet (pbuh) gave comprehensive
guidelines on slaughtering of animals in
following Hadith:
“Verily Allah, has prescribed proficiency in all
things. Thus, if you kill, kill well; and if you
slaughter, slaughter well. Let each one of you
sharpen his blade and let him spare suffering to
the animal he slaughters”.
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ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF
SLAUGHTERING
Process of slaughtering in Islam - consolidated
Slaughterer:
Must be adult Muslim or
One who believes in Holy Scriptures
Should be in possession of his mental
faculties
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ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF
SLAUGHTERING
Lay animal (except camel) on its left flank,
preferably facing Kibla
Recite name of Allah (Subhan Allah, or La illaha
illila ho, or Allah-o-Akbar or Bismillah Allah-oAkbar)
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ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF
SLAUGHTERING
Give quick incision using very sharp knife on
front of the neck to severe:
Wind pipe
Oesophagus
Carotid arteries
Jugular veins
Prohibited - practice of cutting off part of an
animal or removing its skin while still alive
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PRE-SLAUGHTER HANDLING OF
ANIMALS - 1. Selection of animals
Islam permits consumption of few animals and
birds only
Strictly prohibited:
Pork
Blood
Carrion
Dead animals ……….
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PRE-SLAUGHTER HANDLING OF
ANIMALS - 1. Selection of animals
Animals died natural death
Animals died as result of:
Beating
Strangling
Falling from a height
Goring of horns
Devoured of wild beasts
Animals dedicated to others than Allah
Animals immolated to idols
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1. Selection of animals
Also prohibited:
All carnivorous animals
All birds of prey
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1. Selection of animals
Permitted animals:
All herbivorous, even-toed, ruminants
Animal meant for slaughtering be:
Healthy
Free from any apparent or
hidden impurities/diseases
Must be legally owned.
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2. Rest prior to slaughtering
Islam promotes calm and rested animals prior
to slaughtering:
 Not fatigued
 Not excited
 Not nervous
Slaughtering Instrument
The Holy Prophet (pbuh) advised companions
to sharpen knives to their best
Further instructed not to perform this operation
in front of slaying animal
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2. Rest prior to slaughtering
Not Permitted - Any act that causes neurosis or
excitement or other abnormal behavioural
changes in animal
Prohibited in Islam - Practice of collective
slaughtering - other animals do not view their
companion being killed
Research reveals
practices inhumane
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2. Rest prior to slaughtering
Rough handling of animals in pre-slaughter
period adversely affects meat quality
Result - dark, firm and dry meat (dark cutting
meat)
Fatigued or starved animals - Organisms
from gut may invade blood stream and
eventually muscles
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2. Rest prior to slaughtering
Modern methods require animal prior to
slaughtering not be subjected to:
Stress
Fatigue
Neurotic
Otherwise excited
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2. Rest prior to slaughtering
Proper relaxation before slaughtering:
Helps animal to bleed well
Builds up muscle glycogen essential to lower
pH of meat
Increases storage life by reducing chances of
microbial growth
Improves taste due to conditioning/
tenderness
Helps delay or reduce fermentation in
stomach - may otherwise give meat
characteristic smell known as ‘bone taint’.
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2. Rest prior to slaughtering
 Generally regarded undesirable that animal awaiting
slaughter view slaughtering process – cause stress
 Animals under stress - lead to undue emotional
instability, fatigue, anorexia, etc.,
 Discharge hormones from adrenal glands:
adrenaline from adrenal medulla
17 hydroxy- and 11-deoxycorticosterones from
adrenal cortex
 Hormones deplete muscle glycogen and potassium
 Deleterious effects on meat quality
 To prevent these adverse effects, tranquilizers
recommended to calm stocks in transit.
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3. Feeding the animals
Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) advised that
animals destined for slaughtering be:
well fed
provided with drinking water
 Preferable that animals have free access to
feed and water prior to slaughtering.
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3. Feeding the animals
Two schools of thoughts:
Animal to remain hungry - Fasting
Animal be well fed
Fasting animals - Fasting animals before
slaughter recommended in modern abattoirs
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3. Feeding the animals
Fasting Animals
Advantages claimed:
 Bleed better
 Carcass easier to dress
 Carcass has brighter appearance
 Reduced bulk of animal’s stomach
 Reduced chances of bacterial contamination
from gut
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3. Feeding the animals
Fasting Animals
Disadvantages of fasted animals:
Loss in weight of carcass and liver
Lower glycogen reserves in muscles
Reduced gustative quality of meat
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3. Feeding the animals
Well-fed animals:
Glycogen level in muscle reaches higher level
Ensures production of adequate lactic acid
Lowers pH of meat
Such meat has good:
Appearance
Taste
Tenderness
Longer shelf-life
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3. Feeding the animals
Well-fed animals
Meat spoilage bacteria prefer growth at high pH
levels - around pH 7.0
Most bacteria, especially food poisoning ones
do not grow at pH below 3.5
Any decrease from normal value of about 6.8
reduces chances of bacterial multiplication,
especially food poisoning ones
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3. Feeding the animals
Meat of soothed and well-fed animals:
pH attains 5.5 or even lower level
Meat of fatigued or neurotic animals:
pH varies from 6.5 to 7.0
To produce meat of good keeping and eating
quality, often recommended to feed animals
prior to slaughtering
In some cases sugar solution fed to quickly
restore glycogen level in tissues
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE
Slaughtering rules apply to animals and birds in
complete physical control of man - all
domesticated birds and animals (except camel)
Camel slaughtered by method known as ‘nahr’
Involves piercing throat with sharp, spear-like
instrument while standing
Blood streams out, bleeding makes animal fall
lifeless to ground
Any animal or bird gone wild and cannot be
reached or caught, falls under category of
‘game animal’ - different rituals apply
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE
Conventionally, slaughtering process consists
of two to three different stages
Depends on religious practices and legislations
Muslims and Jews not in favour of stunning
Western countries require animals be stunned
before slaughtering
Posture of animal and bleeding method
governed by religious and national legislations
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning
Stunning widely practiced in Western abattoirs
Main objective - make animal unconscious for
gentle and painless death
No standard method for all animals under all
conditions
Stunning effective in having calm animal
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning
Stunning may adversely affect quality of
carcass - cause injury to medulla oblongata in
brain - controls blood circulation and
respiration
Desirable these systems continue to function help pump blood out of carcass when blood
vessels cut
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning
Stunning Methods
Older method involved hitting animal on its
head with a hammer
 Stunning methods in vogue:
Pole-axe
Free bullet
Captive bolt pistol
Concussion stunner
Electrical stunning
Carbon dioxide anesthesia
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning
Method of shooting by free bullet - too
dangerous to use in abattoirs
Captive bolt - discarded
Carbon dioxide anesthesia - exact dose of gas
important for specific length of time
does not seem possible with all animals
under all conditions.
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning
Electrical stunning widely used now-a-days
increases frequency of ‘blood splash” appearance of small dark red areas in meat
also lowers glycogen reserves of muscle
estimated approximately in 5 % electrically
stunned animals heart failure - animal dead
before incision made
consumers eat carrion and not meat
Objectionable in West, also prohibited by
Holy Scriptures
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning
Stunning - outcome of industrial revolution in
West
Maximum animals be slaughtered in least time
Reality - no relation with mercy on animals
Industrial revolution - provided mankind with
innumerable benefits
inflicted damaging blows on some aspects of
human nutrition
Example - refinement of wheat flour
Stunning might turn out harmful
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning
Debates - Muslims could eat meat of animals
bled after stunning, even if all other
requirements fulfilled
Views expressed in favour and against
Some Muslim countries accept, some do not
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE
2. Animal positioning
Islamic method - lay animal on left flank
preferably facing Kibla
When laid on left flank, likelihood of more blood
to drain owing to body pressure on heart
Laying animal enables it to convulse - results
from contraction of muscles due to lack of
oxygen in brain cells when incision made in
neck
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE
2. Animal positioning
During convulsions blood squeezed out of
vessels
Hence more blood drains out - a pre-requisite
for meat of superior quality
Evidence suggests more blood lost from sheep
in horizontal position than those hung vertically
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE
3. Bleeding techniques
Islam permits use of knife or any sharp object
for bleeding except finger nail and bone
In an emergency use of sharp stone, white
stone, bamboo and sharp arrow permitted
Incision made in neck with simultaneous
recitation of the name of Allah - Takbir
Takbir has religious significance to believer who
makes submission to Allah, since assumed that
life taken out of animal with His permission
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE
3. Bleeding techniques
Slaughtering actually done in the name of Allah
Slaughtering not in name of any person or deity
in accordance with following commands:
“So eat of (meats) on which God’s name has
been pronounced if ye have faith in His Signs”
(Vl:118).
 “Eat not of meats on which God’s name has
not been pronounced: that would be impiety.
But the evil ones ever inspire their friends to
commit end with you if ye were to obey them,
ye would indeed be Pagans” (Vl:121).
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE
3. Bleeding techniques
Modern methods - domestic fowls and turkeys
may be slaughtered instantaneously by means
of decapitation or dislocation of neck
Present-day slaughterhouses
anterior vena cava severed on one side in
cattle
carotid arteries in goats and sheep
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE
3. Bleeding techniques
Islamic method:
Cut throat transversely to severe carotid
arteries, jugular veins, oesophagus and trachea
without injuring spinal cord
Two essentials in slaughter of animals for meat:
 animals be dispatched without unnecessary
suffering
bleeding be as complete as possible

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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE
3. Bleeding techniques
When both carotid arteries severed
unconsciousness in sheep induced between 3
to 6 seconds
Islamic method ensures maximum blood
drainage from body before completion of death
process
Connection between brain and body retained
via spinal cord
Brain sends messages to heart and lungs
Heart pumps blood to parts of body - drained
out from severed blood vessels in neck
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE
3. Bleeding techniques
Results of a comparative study
Three different methods of slaughtering
employed:
Maximum blood lost in Kosher method
Jewish method similar to Islamic as regards
physical details
Minimum when chicken simply beheaded
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE
3. Bleeding techniques
Blood excellent medium for growth of
microorganisms
Meat retaining more blood than critical level
liable to bacterial spoilage
Blood retention in tissues can cause unpleasant
appearance and discolouration in meat
Keeping and eating qualities of meat depend, in
part, on removal of maximum blood from
carcass
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE
3. Bleeding techniques
To produce good carcass animal be bled
effectively
Heart and respiratory system must function
continuously as long as possible after
severance
This attained most thoroughly when heart and
respiratory functions retained by maintaining
medulla oblongata/spinal cord
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SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE
3. Bleeding techniques
Positioning of animal in Islamic method:
 clearly prevents retraction of carotids
 ensures rapid onset of unconsciousness and
painless death
In Islamic method of slaughtering maximum
blood drained - outranks other slaughtering
techniques
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EXTRODUCTION
 Islam recognized animal rights long before human
rights recognized in Western World
 Numerous Ahadiths reflect Islam advocates kindness
and mercy towards animals
 Holy Prophet (pbuh) advised:
 Nourish animals wel
 Save animals from hunger and thirst
 Show kindness to animals
 Do not hit or mark animal on its face
 Do not shoot arrows at cattle or bird tied or held up
 Do not fight animals for sports or recreation
 Do not unjustly killing even a sparrow or smaller
bird (other than for food)
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EXTRODUCTION
Current scientific data reveals Islamic
recommendations for slaughtering animals
highly rational
Good physique and health considered basic
requirement for selection of food animals
Pre-slaughter management of animals requires
they should not be fatigued, excited or neurotic
Proper rest, absence of hunger and thirst and
use of sharp knife alleviate pains of death
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Thank You
Open for
Discussion
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