Is It Really Halal?
Zainab is a freshman majoring in Psychology. Below are some of their thoughts regarding the Halal food situation in the UC Marketplace.
How is it that the world has more than a billion Muslims and yet they have to run around like early hunters and gatherers to search for food? Except, instead of hunting, they are searching on Google, and instead of gathering they are saving the location of specific halal restaurants on their phones. Does the world need another 5 billion Muslims in order to make halal food accessible everywhere?
This was quite upsetting for me as a student, because I was told that food options here would be very inclusive. After experiencing Pacific’s dining first hand, it seems like that inclusivity is not being implemented the way it should be. Automatic/machine sliced meat is what is being served as “halal food” at the Marketplace. While many Muslims may think or believe that machine slaughter is halal and permissible to eat, it comes with its disadvantages: First, it is impossible for a butcher to perform the tasmiyah (blessing or prayer) while keeping up with the fast-paced butchering machine. This results in many of them using recordings of their own voice reciting the tasmiyah, which is unacceptable because it ought to be recited live. Second, the machine needs to pass through the jugular vein in order for the body to drain off all blood. Instead it slices off the whole head, resulting in unnecessary pain to the animal while still alive. On the other hand, hand slaughter (zabiha) passes all requirements without fail.
Let's break these two points down. As mentioned above, a butcher slicing an animal by machine has to be physically present to perform the tasmiyah in order to make sure that the animal is being sliced in a way that is halal (lawful). As factory work can become very repetitive and tiresome, butchers may accidentally miss out on some animals or use a recorder that performs the tasmiyah for them. In both cases, there is likely to be a sliced animal falling out of haram (unlawful), meaning that that animal is not permissible to be eaten.
On the other hand, you have hand-slaughtered animals - a much better, safer and more humane process. It can be equally tiring but at least you can rest assured that the animal is safe to eat. Machine slaughter may seem like the easy way, but it is very tough for many Muslims, including myself, to trust that the butcher made sure it was done in a halal (meaning they did not miss the tasmiyah) and clean manner.
According to an article written on Texas A&M AgriLife Extension “ Halal slaughter involves one pass of the blade across the throat of the animal, severing the carotid arteries, jugular vein and trachea. The animal must be allowed to bleed completely out. Blood is not halal (Texas A&M, 2013).”
Butchers need to be very careful when it comes to machine slicing an animal. The religion of Islam does not implement unwanted pain on the animal. Slaughtering animals in a factory is the exact opposite of what the law of the religion says. In fact, many Muslim families (including my own) get yards big enough to slaughter animals at home in a way that is halal. This allows the family members to make sure the animal is treated well and taken care of and given love such as, feeding the animal clean water, giving the animal food or salt, and patting the animal while sending gratitudes/praise to God. Compare hand-slicing with machine-slicing and the former is more efficient then the latter.
Despite the risks of machine slicing, many Muslims will still go for it. However, in order to meet diverse needs, Bon Appétit should also offer hand-sliced meats (zabiha), which is the most common halal method. There are plenty of halal zabiha companies that Bon Appétit can contract with. There are limited dining options for us Muslim students, especially ones like me, who are living on campus. It is difficult to not be able to safely eat the chicken, and to act like we’re vegetarians with a big smile. We’ve had enough of burrito bowls and pastas. Let’s bring in the hand-sliced halal chicken biryani. When/if all these changes occur, the staff in the Marketplace and the Lair will have to bear with “us” annoying Muslim students - because we will come and we will ask if the chicken is halal or not, and we will kindly but firmly ask the staff to use a new knife, spoon, cooking utensil, etc,. for the sake of preventing cross-contamination and not have something that contacted pork touch halal chicken.