Halal and kosher slaughter methods and meat quality: A review

- For halal and kosher consumers, meat quality has both spiritual and conventional components.
- For these consumers, meat spiritual quality is the foundation on which other quality attributes are built,
- Halal and kosher slaughter practices per se do not affect meat quality more than their conventional equivalents.
- Meat from stunned livestock presents more quality problems compared to non-stunned.
- Proponents and opponents of stunning need to cooperate to protect animal welfare at slaughter and to produce high-quality meat.

There are many slaughter procedures that religions and cultures use around the world. The two that are commercially relevant are the halal and kosher methods practiced by Muslims and Jews respectively. The global trade in red meat and poultry produced using these two methods is substantial, thus the importance of the quality of the meat produced using the methods. Halal and kosher slaughter per se should not affect meat quality more than their industrial equivalents, however, some of their associated pre- and post-slaughter processes do. For instance, the slow decline in blood pressure following a halal pre-slaughter head-only stun and neck cut causes blood splash (ecchymosis) in a range of muscles and organs of slaughtered livestock. Other quality concerns include bruising, hemorrhages, skin discoloration and broken bones particularly in poultry. In addition to these conventional quality issues, the “spiritual quality” of the meat can also be affected when the halal and kosher religious requirements are not fully met during the slaughter process. The nature, causes, importance and mitigations of these and other quality issues related to halal and kosher slaughtering and meat production using these methods are the subjects of this review.