Championing the Cause for New Zealand’s Halal Slaughtermen

To protect the Halal integrity, the ‘farm to fork’ concept has been very much emphasised, to ensure that any form of contamination is prevented even before it could possibly occur. The process in which this is realised involves numerous steps and a myriad of middle men, from the time the meat is being slaughtered, right up to the way it is being cooked.

Despite the lengthiness of the supply chain, it is the source of the meat which primarily determines its ‘Halalness’, of which, this process is carried out by none other that the people who slaughter the meat, or the slaughtermen. After all, if the slaughtering process does not qualify as Halal, then all the steps which follows be it logistics or packaging will be futile. Thus, the Halal slaughtermen are indeed Halal’s first line of defence Ð a vital component to help protect the integrity of Halal.

With major Halal producers coming from non-Muslim countries, it is important to ensure that there are indeed qualified Halal slaughtermen in these countries. According to New Zealand Halal Union, a body established to ensure the religious and working rights of the Muslim slaughtermen in New Zealand, for each Halal certified factory, there are only two Muslim Halal slaughtermen, while the remaining workers are non-Muslims.

The Muslim Halal slaughtermen therefore, are expected to carry out a much bigger role than their non Muslim colleagues. Apart from carrying the actual Halal slaughter, they are expected to ensure that the Halal carcass does not mix with the non Halal carcass at various stages, including at the slaughter house, in storage chillers or in the boning room (or cutting room). The Muslim Halal slaughtermen are also required to monitor the packaging, labeling and updating of daily records of Halal products to ensure that all Halal cartons are not mixed with non-Halal cartons.

In a recent Halal Journal online poll, 31 per cent of the readers believe that there is still not enough qualified Halal slaughtermen within the market. Husain Benyounis from New Zealand Halal Union further confirms this by explaining that the main reason why this is happening is because there is a serious lack of professional training for slaughtering of Halal meats.

There is therefore a considerable need to set up a proper training program to produce qualified Halal slaughtermen. Clear and unified Halal regulations and guidelines are also required to govern the Halal processes beyond the act of slaughtering, or from slaughter house right up to packaging and labeling.

“Our biggest hurdle is actually the lack of guidelines, procedures, standards or promotion in which we can follow. We can only rely on our own limited religious knowledge,” he said. According to him, the existing New Zealand trade legislations are not sufficient to protect the Halal products; hence any manufacturer can actually stick their own Halal label onto their products. He also laments the lack of local or international recognition on the significant role of Halal slaughtermen in non-Muslim countries such as New Zealand.

Despite all these challenges however, Husain realise that the root cause of this problem is actually the lack of communication between Halal slaughtermen around the world. “An effective communication would build a better understanding between all parties involved, as well as to ensure that the customers are getting pure, untainted Halal meat. Communication between the Halal slaughtermen and their mostly non Muslim factory management also needs to be enhanced,” he added.

Despite these considerable setbacks however, the Union has actually undertook significant initiatives since its inception in 2004 to address the challenges. A Halal Bill is currently being introduced in which a feasibility study was carried out and once completed, it will be sent to the New Zealand parliament for endorsement.

Through the establishment of the New Zealand Halal Union, Halal factories are now more aware about Halal requirements and are being kept updated on the employment and religious needs of their Muslim Halal workers. With this, the Union hopes for greater awareness by bridging cultural differences between the Muslim Halal workers and their respective co-workers and other local communities.

The New Zealand Halal Union recentl establised a dedicated website at www.halalunion.co.nz to dsseminate and inform the public about their progress and development thus far. Since its launch in December 2004, the website has had a buge succes, receiving more than 175,000 requests, of which 160,000 was within the last ten months. Meanwhile, to better facilitate their work, the Union hopes to be able to establish any form of partnership or collaboration from estabished Malaysian Halal institutions, or any other Halal partner throughout the world. Email them at info@halalunion.co.nz and show them some gratitude for the work they are doing.