Industrial halal meat production and animal welfare: A review

• Islam teaches zero-tolerance for any form of animal welfare abuse.
• Harmony exists in the global Islamic and secular views regarding animal welfare.
• Proponents are bogged down by their differing views on pre-slaughter stunning.
• Thus, animal welfare abuses still occur during halal meat production.
• Solutions include worker screening, education and empathy training among others.

Islam teaches zero-tolerance to all forms of animal abuse throughout the halal meat production supply chain and demands that when animals are slaughtered, they must be slaughtered in the mindful and attentive way espoused by the Prophet Muhammad. Why then are poor practices and animal welfare abuses still occurring during halal meat production, and how can they be reduced or eliminated? In this review we discuss how improvements might be achieved through: (1) training of staff regarding the religious and regulatory requirements of animal welfare from on-farm to slaughter; (2) empathy and compassion assessment of applicants prior to employment; (3) installation of CCTV cameras around lairage and slaughter sites; (4) regular employee follow-up training to minimise ‘compassion fatigue’; (5) incorporating animal welfare requirements in halal certification; (6) using mosque-based sermons by Imams to increase awareness of animal welfare issues; and (7) making portable humane slaughter units available to small cottage operations and home/neighbourhood-kills through mosque-based organizations/structures.