Hant Blog

In this blog, numbers in parentheses refer to the list of sources at the bottom. Introduction: eating meat means slaughtering an animal To eat meat, an animal must be slaughtered. This is a biological reality that still applies today — meat is not grown in a laboratory, at least not yet on a large scale. The question is not so much whether an animal is slaughtered, but how. The starting point must always be: as quick, as efficient, as clean, and as painless as possible. This applies to every slaughter method, religious or not. Still, halal slaughter often appears in public debate, often with misunderstandings about what it exactly entails, whether it violates animal welfare, and whether it conflicts with Flemish legislation. In this blog, we look at this concretely: for cattle, in Flanders. What is halal slaughter? Halal slaughter is the Islamic method of slaughtering. The word "halal" simply means "permitted" in Arabic — the opposite is "haram" (forbidden). Meat is only halal if the animal was slaughtered according to specific religious rules. What does the Quran say? The basis of halal slaughter comes from three references in the Quran: Surah 5, verse 3 lists forbidden foods: an animal that was already dead before slaughter, blood, an animal that was strangled or fell. The animal must be alive at the time of slaughter, and the blood must be completely drained from the body. Letting the blood drain has both a religious and practical background: blood is a breeding ground for microorganisms, and removing it helps preserve the meat. Surah 6, verse 121 states that one must not eat animals over which the name of Allah (God in Arabic) has not been pronounced. This confirms that the animal is not killed senselessly, but consciously and in the name of God. Surah 6, verses 118-119 reaffirm that one may eat animals over which the name of Allah has been pronounced, and that one may trust the divine guidelines for what is permitted. What does the Hadith say? The Hadith are the traditions of the sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, recorded in major collections. While the Quran provides the principles, the Hadith gives the practical application. The following rules for halal slaughter are derived from them: The slaughterer must be Muslim, Jewish, or Christian (people of the book) The knife must be razor-sharp; a blunt knife prolongs suffering The throat cut must be performed in one smooth motion, not sawing The knife must not be sharpened in sight of the animal, as this causes fear Other animals must not watch during the slaughter The animal must be calm and stress-free before slaughter. The slaughterhouse must be clean and hygienic. The animal must be completely bled out before further procedures are performed — this has a practical reason besides the religious one: residual blood in the meat promotes bacterial growth and shortens shelf life. Conventional slaughter versus halal slaughter: what is the difference? In conventional, non-religious cattle slaughter, the animal is first stunned — either with a captive bolt pistol that shoots a steel bolt forcefully into the skull, or via an electric shock. In traditional halal slaughter without stunning, the animal is bled while conscious. This is the point of debate — both scientifically and religiously. What does science say about pain during slaughter? A frequently cited study is the research by Professor Wilhelm Schulze from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover, conducted between 1974 and 1978. (1)EEG (brain activity) and ECG (heart activity) were measured in sheep and calves via surgically implanted electrodes. In Islamic throat cutting, the EEG showed no change during the first three seconds. In the captive bolt method, the animals appeared stunned but showed more brain activity than expected. The study remains controversial: it dates from the 1970s, the methodology was criticized, and Schulze himself pointed out that the captive bolt device may not have functioned correctly in his experiments. For sheep, later EEG studies confirm similar findings about relatively rapid unconsciousness after a proper throat cut. (2)Similar confirming studies are lacking for adult cattle.  American animal scientist Temple Grandin, internationally recognized as an expert in slaughterhouse design and animal behavior, states that slaughterhouses that correctly follow recommended halal practices cause little pain to the animal. She emphasizes that animal suffering in slaughterhouses is more related to poor execution than the method itself — but generally prefers effective stunning beforehand. (4). Stunning in conventional slaughter: not without problems either. Stunning is often presented as the ultimate solution, but there are problems there as well. Research shows that stunning methods fail to effectively stun an animal in a significant number of cases, with reported percentages varying widely depending on the species and method used. (5)In poultry that goes through an electric water bath, a portion of the animals are insufficiently stunned and undergo the throat cut while conscious. (6). Some animals die from failed stunning before the throat cut, making the meat strictly speaking no longer halal, nor compliant with general slaughter regulations. Animals stunned and slaughtered in groups see and hear their peers suffer, causing severe stress. Moreover, the quality of stunning is difficult to control in practice: in an industrial slaughterhouse, hundreds of animals pass through the line per hour, making thorough individual checks nearly impossible. The Flemish legislation: decree of July 7, 2017. In Flanders, slaughter without stunning has been prohibited since January 1, 2019, based on the Flemish decree of July 7, 2017, amending the law on animal welfare protection. (7)It provides a specific regulation: the stunning must be reversible, and the animal’s death must not result from the stunning. This way, the animal remains technically alive at the moment of slaughter, meeting Islamic requirements. For many halal certification bodies, reversible stunning before the throat cut is allowed, although acceptability depends on the method used and the animal species. The penetrating captive bolt pistol, which causes permanent brain damage, is rejected by most bodies because the animal cannot recover from it. Its use is carefully monitored per slaughterhouse and case; the animal must not suffer unnecessarily, and the stunning must be perfectly performed. In practice, this is not guaranteed: even with stunning before the throat cut, stunning sometimes fails, causing the animal to undergo the throat cut while still conscious. Stunning after the throat cut, cattle: the legal exception. For cattle, a specific transitional measure applies: stunning after the throat cut. The reason is technical; at the time the decree was established, there was no widely applicable and sufficiently reliable method for reversible stunning of adult cattle. (7)Therefore, a temporary solution was provided: The cattle are slaughtered without stunning. Immediately afterwards, during or up to 2 seconds after the throat cut, the animal is stunned with a captive bolt pistol. The animal is then unconscious and bleeds out. This method is legally established as a transitional measure, pending the reliable application of reversible electronarcosis for large cattle. Flanders is no exception: within Europe, stunning after the throat cut is also legally required in Austria, Estonia, Latvia, and Greece. (8). In most other European countries — including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Poland — non-stunned ritual slaughter is still fully permitted. Are we violating the law? No. Halal slaughter of cattle in Flanders, carried out with anesthesia after the throat cut in a recognized slaughterhouse, fully complies with Flemish legislation. The 2017 decree explicitly provides this as a legal method for cattle, as long as electronic stunning for this species is not yet perfected. Double control: FASFC and halal certification Slaughterhouses that perform halal slaughter in Flanders are subject to two levels of control. The FASFC — the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain — inspects all slaughterhouses for hygiene, animal welfare, and compliance with legislation. This is the standard legal control for every slaughterhouse in Belgium. In addition to FASFC control, recognized halal certifiers conduct their own audits. They check whether the slaughter complies with Islamic rules: presence of a Muslim slaughterer who knows the rules, quality of the cut, treatment of the animals before and during slaughter, cleanliness of the environment. Halal slaughterhouses are therefore monitored not only by legal controls but also by independent certifiers for compliance with religious rules, an extra layer that does not exist in regular slaughter. Anesthesia before the throat cut: accepted by Islamic scholars? A separate question is whether anesthesia before the throat cut can be halal. Islamic scholars and certification bodies are not unanimous here, but a growing majority accept it, provided the anesthesia is reversible. (9)Several authoritative bodies and countries preceded: Egyptian Fatwa Committee (1978) Al-Azhar, one of the highest Islamic institutions in the world (1982) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran European Council for Fatwa and Research Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Emirates In Turkey and Morocco, more and more modern slaughterhouses are adopting anesthesia before the throat cut in practice. Worldwide, it is currently estimated that 75% of halal beef is produced with anesthesia before the throat cut.(9). However, this does not mean that just any method is accepted. The anesthesia must be correct, controlled, and demonstrably reversible, validated on a case-by-case basis, and carried out under strict supervision. The penetrating captive bolt device, which causes permanent brain damage, is not accepted. It is precisely this combination of religious oversight on top of legal control that distinguishes halal slaughter from common slaughter practices. Final assessment Halal slaughter of cattle in Flanders via stunning after the throat cut is legally permitted and subject to a double layer of control. Science shows that a skilled, swift neck cut with a sharp knife in sheep leads to rapid unconsciousness, although comparable clear studies for adult cattle are lacking. Common stunning methods are also not without risk. Supporters argue that Islamic slaughter regulations are intended to minimize animal suffering as much as possible. Sources (1) Schulze, W., Schultze-Petzold, H., Hazem, A.S., & Gross, R. (1978). Attempts to Objectify Pain and Consciousness in Conventional and Ritual Methods of Slaughtering Sheep and Calves. Deutsche Tierärztliche Wochenschrift, 85(2), 62–66. (2) Gregory, N.G., & Wotton, S.B. (1984). Sheep slaughtering procedures: II. Time to loss of brain responsiveness after exsanguination or cardiac arrest. British Veterinary Journal, 140(4), 354–360. (4) Grandin, T. (2012). Recommended Animal Handling Guidelines and Audit Guide: A Systematic Approach to Animal Welfare. American Meat Institute Foundation. (5) Atkinson, S., Velarde, A., & Algers, B. (2013). Assessment of stun quality at commercial slaughter in cattle shot with captive bolt. Animal Welfare, 22(4), 473–481. (6) European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). (2004). Welfare aspects of the main systems of stunning and killing the main commercial species of animals. EFSA Journal, 45, 1–29. (7) Flemish Parliament. (2017). Decree amending the law of August 14, 1986, concerning the protection and welfare of animals, regarding the permitted methods for slaughtering animals. Belgian Official Gazette, July 7, 2017. (8) European Parliament. (2017). Parliamentary question P-002607/2017: Unstunned slaughter. Accessed via europarl.europa.eu. (9) Riaz, M.N., Irshad, F., Riaz, N.M., & Regenstein, J.M. (2021). Pros and cons of different stunning methods from a Halal perspective: a review. Translational Animal Science, 5(4), txab154. https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txab154

Lately, more and more blogs, posts, and ads claim that bone broth "contains a lot of histamine due to long cooking." Meat broth is often presented as a supposedly safer alternative. Although that may sound logical, it is not scientifically correct. In fact: this claim is widely copied online without any scientific basis. It is a classic example of internet myths that persist because no one checks if they are true. Therefore in this blog: the facts, the science, and why long cooking does not cause histamine problems — but old meat does. What is histamine and how does it form? Histamine is a biogenic amine that forms when the amino acid histidine is converted by bacteria via an enzyme: histidine decarboxylase. ➡️ That means: no bacteria, no histamine.➡️ Histamine does not form from cooking, and certainly not from long cooking. The bacteria that produce histamine grow on: Old or poorly refrigerated meat or fish Meat that has been at room temperature for a long time Poorly processed products Once formed, histamine remains present, even after cooking — it is heat-resistant. But cooking itself does not create histamine. What does cooking do to histamine then? Research shows: Cooking lowers or stabilizes the histamine level. Grilling or frying sometimes increases histamine concentrations, mainly due to water evaporation. When making broth (even 24–48 hours), histamine remains stable if you use fresh ingredients. Long cooking does not increase histamine. If you work with fresh bones, long simmering is not a problem at all. Where does histamine come from then? Very simply: from bacterial growth before cooking. If you use meat or bones that: not cooled immediately left too long in the refrigerator already pre-packaged or marinated… then bacteria get the chance to form histamine. And that histamine remains, even if you cook for hours afterward. So the problem lies in the quality and freshness of the ingredients, not the cooking time. Why meat broth actually carries more risk Some brands suggest that meat broth is "safer" than bone broth. But that is not true. 💡 Meat is more susceptible to bacterial growth than bones.💡 Certainly ground or marinated meat often already contains elevated histamine levels. Bones, especially when kept frozen, contain much less moisture and muscle tissue where bacteria can be active. So if you use fresh or directly frozen bones and work hygienically, bone broth is safe and low in histamine. Why you find so much incorrect information online The claim “bone broth contains a lot of histamine due to long cooking” is repeatedly copied, often without any source reference. Many blogs cite each other, sometimes literally, without checking the facts. The result? One false story becomes “truth” across hundreds of websites. Meanwhile, some companies use these myths to promote their own products (meat broth, powder, supplements…) as “histamine-friendly,” while that is not scientifically accurate. What does science really say? A few examples: "Histamine is produced during microbial spoilage by decarboxylation of histidine and is not destroyed by cooking." – US FDA, Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance, 4th Edition "Histamine content is more influenced by microbial activity in raw materials than by thermal processing." – EFSA Journal, 2011 "Boiling reduces or maintains histamine levels; only pre-existing contamination affects final content." – Doeun et al., Food Control, 2013 This and other studies are clear: the freshness of the ingredient determines the histamine, not the cooking time. How do you avoid histamine in broth? Simple: Always work with fresh bonesBuy them fresh or frozen, and process quickly. Never leave meat or bones at room temperatureNot even for a few hours. Bacteria multiply quickly. Store your broth safelyCool within 2 hours after cooking, or freeze immediately. Avoid leftover meat with questionable smell or colorThey can already contain histamine, even before cooking. What do we do at HANT? At HANT, we use only fresh, halal-slaughtered beef bones that are immediately frozen upon receipt. Our bone broth is slowly simmered for 32 hours under controlled conditions. After preparation, the broth is heated in an industrial autoclave – a device that works with steam under pressure, similar to a sterilization process in the medical field. Although an autoclave does not break down histamine (because histamine is heat-resistant), it significantly increases food safety and shelf life. No bacteria that could produce histamine after packaging can survive. And for those who want certainty: we have had our products tested by an accredited laboratory. The results show no elevated histamine levels in our broth.👉 View the analysis report here