Islamic Slaughtering and Meat Quality

1. Islamic Slaughtering and Meat Quality Dr. Javaid Aziz Awan National Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad

2. INTRODUCTION • Meat indispensable for sound human health • Provides several essential nutrients: • Amino acids • Mineral elements • Vitamins

3. INTRODUCTION • Meat subject to spoilage by: • Chemical reactions • Biochemical reactions • Biological agents, including bacteria • Responsible for food-borne diseases • Hence meat be produced so as to: • Minimize chemical and biochemical changes • Prevent chances of bacterial contamination and growth to preserve quality

4. INTRODUCTION • Slaughtering of lawful animals and birds essential to prepare for food purposes • Pre-slaughtermanagement and bleeding methods regulated by religious practices and legislations • Earliest recordedlaws on handling, care and slaughter of animals - Ahadith by the Holy Prophet (pbuh) • These often in response to queries or result of his (pbuh) personal observations • These guidelines laid down over 1430 years • Modern scientific discoveries just testified implications

5. ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF SLAUGHTERING • Islamic method of slaughtering - based on two important principles: • Tasmiya • Tazkiyah • Tasmiya refers to invoking name of Allah • means slaughter being done with His permission • This in accordance with several commands given in the Holy Quran

6. ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF SLAUGHTERING “Forbidden to you (for food,) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which hath been invoked the name of other than God; that which hath been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a head long fall, or by being gored to death; that which hath been partly eaten by a wild animal, unless ye are able to slaughter it (in due form) ….…………. (V:4)

7. ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF SLAUGHTERING • Tazkiyah means purification - cleaning meat of blood by slaughter • Consumption of blood prohibited in Holy Scriptures: • Holy Bible - Leviticus 3:17 and 7:26 • Holy Quran - VI:146 • All lawful animals and birds contain blood • Blood must be drained as per these commands

8. ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF SLAUGHTERING • The Holy Prophet (pbuh) gave comprehensive guidelines on slaughtering of animals in following Hadith: • “Verily Allah, has prescribed proficiency in all things. Thus, if you kill, kill well; and if you slaughter, slaughter well. Let each one of you sharpen his blade and let him spare suffering to the animal he slaughters”.

9. ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF SLAUGHTERING • Process of slaughtering in Islam - consolidated • Slaughterer: • Must be adult Muslim or • One who believes in Holy Scriptures • Should be in possession of his mentalfaculties

10. ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF SLAUGHTERING • Lay animal (except camel) on its left flank, preferably facing Kibla • Recite name of Allah (Subhan Allah, or La illaha illila ho, or Allah-o-Akbar or Bismillah Allah-o-Akbar)

11. ESSENTIALS OF ISLAMIC METHOD OF SLAUGHTERING • Give quick incision using very sharp knife on front of the neck to severe: • Wind pipe • Oesophagus • Carotid arteries • Jugular veins • Prohibited - practice of cutting off part of an animal or removing its skin while still alive

12. Islam permits consumption of few animals and birds only Strictly prohibited: Pork Blood Carrion Dead animals ………. PRE-SLAUGHTER HANDLING OF ANIMALS - 1. Selection of animals

13. PRE-SLAUGHTER HANDLING OF ANIMALS - 1. Selection of animals • Animals died natural death • Animals died as result of: • Beating • Strangling • Falling from a height • Goring of horns • Devoured of wild beasts • Animals dedicated to others than Allah • Animals immolated to idols

14. 1. Selection of animals • Also prohibited: • All carnivorous animals • All birds of prey

15. 1. Selection of animals • Permitted animals: • All herbivorous, even-toed, ruminants • Animal meant for slaughtering be: • Healthy • Free from any apparent or hidden impurities/diseases • Must be legally owned.

16. 2. Rest prior to slaughtering • Islampromotes calm and rested animals prior to slaughtering: • Not fatigued • Not excited • Not nervous Slaughtering Instrument • The Holy Prophet (pbuh) advised companions to sharpen knives to their best • Further instructed not to perform this operation in front of slaying animal

17. 2. Rest prior to slaughtering • NotPermitted - Any act that causes neurosis or excitement or other abnormal behavioural changes in animal • Prohibited in Islam - Practice of collective slaughtering - other animals do not view their companion being killed • Research reveals practices inhumane

18. 2. Rest prior to slaughtering • Roughhandling of animals in pre-slaughter period adversely affects meat quality • Result - dark, firm and dry meat (dark cutting meat) • Fatigued or starved animals - Organisms from gut may invade blood stream and eventually muscles

19. 2. Rest prior to slaughtering • Modern methods require animal prior to slaughtering not be subjected to: • Stress • Fatigue • Neurotic • Otherwise excited

20. 2. Rest prior to slaughtering • Proper relaxation before slaughtering: • Helps animal to bleed well • Builds up muscle glycogen essential to lower pH of meat • Increases storage life by reducing chances of microbial growth • Improves taste due to conditioning/ tenderness • Helps delay or reduce fermentation in stomach - may otherwise give meat characteristic smell known as ‘bone taint’.

21. 2. Rest prior to slaughtering • Generally regarded undesirable that animal awaiting slaughter view slaughtering process – cause stress • Animals understress - lead to undue emotional instability, fatigue, anorexia, etc., • Discharge hormones from adrenal glands: • adrenaline from adrenal medulla • 17 hydroxy- and 11-deoxycorticosterones from adrenal cortex • Hormones deplete muscle glycogen and potassium • Deleterious effects on meatquality • To prevent these adverse effects, tranquilizers recommended to calm stocks in transit.

22. 3. Feeding the animals • Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) advised that animals destined for slaughtering be: • well fed • provided with drinking water • Preferable that animals have free access to feed and water prior to slaughtering.

23. 3. Feeding the animals • Two schools of thoughts: • Animal to remain hungry - Fasting • Animal be well fed • Fasting animals - Fasting animals before slaughter recommended in modern abattoirs

24. 3. Feeding the animals Fasting Animals Advantages claimed: • Bleed better • Carcass easier to dress • Carcass has brighter appearance • Reduced bulk of animal’s stomach • Reduced chances of bacterial contamination from gut

25. 3. Feeding the animals • Fasting Animals • Disadvantages of fasted animals: • Loss in weight of carcass and liver • Lower glycogen reserves in muscles • Reduced gustativequality of meat

26. 3. Feeding the animals Well-fed animals: • Glycogen level in muscle reaches higher level • Ensures production of adequate lacticacid • Lowers pH of meat • Such meat has good: • Appearance • Taste • Tenderness • Longer shelf-life

27. 3. Feeding the animals • Well-fed animals • Meat spoilage bacteria prefer growth at high pH levels - around pH 7.0 • Most bacteria, especially food poisoning ones do not grow at pH below 3.5 • Any decrease from normal value of about 6.8 reduces chances of bacterial multiplication, especially food poisoning ones

28. 3. Feeding the animals • Meat of soothed and well-fed animals: • pH attains 5.5 or even lower level • Meat of fatigued or neurotic animals: • pH varies from 6.5 to 7.0 • To produce meat of good keeping and eating quality, often recommended to feed animals prior to slaughtering • In some cases sugar solution fed to quickly restore glycogen level in tissues

29. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE • Slaughtering rules apply to animals and birds in complete physical control of man - all domesticated birds and animals (except camel) • Camel slaughtered by method known as ‘nahr’ • Involves piercing throat with sharp, spear-like instrument while standing • Blood streams out, bleeding makes animal fall lifeless to ground • Any animal or bird gone wild and cannot be reached or caught, falls under category of ‘game animal’ - different rituals apply

30. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE • Conventionally, slaughteringprocess consists of two to three different stages • Depends on religious practices and legislations • Muslims and Jews not in favour of stunning • Western countries require animals be stunned before slaughtering • Posture of animal and bleedingmethod governed by religious and national legislations

31. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning • Stunning widely practiced in Western abattoirs • Main objective - make animal unconscious for gentle and painless death • No standard method for all animals under all conditions • Stunning effective in having calm animal

32. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning • Stunning may adversely affect quality of carcass - cause injury to medulla oblongata in brain - controls blood circulation and respiration • Desirable these systems continue to function - help pump blood out of carcass when blood vessels cut

33. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning StunningMethods • Older method involved hitting animal on its head with a hammer • Stunning methods in vogue: • Pole-axe • Free bullet • Captive bolt pistol • Concussion stunner • Electrical stunning • Carbon dioxide anesthesia

34. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning • Method of shooting by freebullet - too dangerous to use in abattoirs • Captivebolt - discarded • Carbondioxideanesthesia - exact dose of gas important for specific length of time • does not seem possible with all animals under all conditions.

35. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning • Electricalstunning widely used now-a-days • increases frequency of ‘blood splash” - appearance of small dark red areas in meat • also lowersglycogen reserves of muscle • estimated approximately in 5 % electrically stunned animals heart failure - animal dead before incision made • consumers eat carrion and not meat • Objectionable in West, also prohibited by Holy Scriptures

36. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning • Stunning - outcome of industrial revolution in West • Maximum animals be slaughtered in least time • Reality - no relation with mercy on animals • Industrialrevolution - provided mankind with innumerable benefits • inflicted damagingblows on some aspects of human nutrition • Example - refinement of wheat flour • Stunning might turn out harmful

37. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 1. Stunning • Debates - Muslims could eat meat of animals bled after stunning, even if all other requirements fulfilled • Views expressed in favour and against • Some Muslim countries accept, some do not

38. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 2. Animal positioning • Islamic method - lay animal on leftflank preferably facing Kibla • When laid on left flank, likelihood of more blood to drain owing to body pressure on heart • Laying animal enables it to convulse - results from contraction of muscles due to lack of oxygen in brain cells when incision made in neck

39. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 2. Animal positioning • During convulsions blood squeezed out of vessels • Hence more blooddrains out - a pre-requisite for meat of superior quality • Evidence suggests more blood lost from sheep in horizontal position than those hung vertically

40. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 3. Bleeding techniques • Islam permits use of knife or any sharp object for bleeding except finger nail and bone • In an emergency use of sharp stone, white stone, bamboo and sharp arrow permitted • Incision made in neck with simultaneous recitation of the name of Allah - Takbir • Takbir has religious significance to believer who makes submission to Allah, since assumed that life taken out of animal with His permission

41. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 3. Bleeding techniques • Slaughtering actually done in the name of Allah • Slaughtering not in name of any person or deity in accordance with following commands: • “So eat of (meats) on which God’s name has been pronounced if ye have faith in His Signs” (Vl:118). • “Eat not of meats on which God’s name has not been pronounced: that would be impiety. But the evil ones ever inspire their friends to commit end with you if ye were to obey them, ye would indeed be Pagans” (Vl:121).

42. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 3. Bleeding techniques • Modern methods - domestic fowls and turkeys may be slaughtered instantaneously by means of decapitation or dislocation of neck • Present-day slaughterhouses • anterior vena cava severed on one side in cattle • carotid arteries in goats and sheep

43. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 3. Bleeding techniques • Islamicmethod: • Cut throat transversely to severe carotid arteries, jugular veins, oesophagus and trachea without injuring spinal cord • Two essentials in slaughter of animals for meat: • animals be dispatched without unnecessary suffering • bleeding be as complete as possible

44. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 3. Bleeding techniques • When both carotid arteries severed unconsciousness in sheep induced between 3 to 6 seconds • Islamic method ensures maximum blood drainage from body before completion of death process • Connection between brain and body retained via spinal cord • Brain sends messages to heart and lungs • Heart pumps blood to parts of body - drained out from severed blood vessels in neck

45. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 3. Bleeding techniques Results of a comparativestudy • Three different methods of slaughtering employed: • Maximumblood lost in Kosher method • Jewish method similar to Islamic as regards physical details • Minimum when chicken simply beheaded

46. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 3. Bleeding techniques • Blood excellent medium for growth of microorganisms • Meat retaining more blood than critical level liable to bacterialspoilage • Blood retention in tissues can cause unpleasantappearance and discolouration in meat • Keeping and eatingqualities of meat depend, in part, on removal of maximum blood from carcass

47. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 3. Bleeding techniques • To produce goodcarcass animal be bled effectively • Heart and respiratorysystem must function continuously as long as possible after severance • This attained most thoroughly when heart and respiratory functions retained by maintaining medulla oblongata/spinal cord

48. SLAUGHTERING PROCEDURE 3. Bleeding techniques Positioning of animal in Islamic method: • clearly prevents retraction of carotids • ensures rapid onset of unconsciousness and painless death • In Islamic method of slaughtering maximumblooddrained - outranks other slaughtering techniques

49. EXTRODUCTION • Islam recognized animalrights long before human rights recognized in Western World • Numerous Ahadiths reflect Islam advocates kindness and mercy towards animals • Holy Prophet (pbuh) advised: • Nourish animals wel • Save animals from hunger and thirst • Show kindness to animals • Do not hit or mark animal on its face • Do not shoot arrows at cattle or bird tied or held up • Do not fight animals for sports or recreation • Do not unjustly killing even a sparrow or smaller bird (other than for food)

50. EXTRODUCTION • Current scientific data reveals Islamic recommendations for slaughtering animals highly rational • Good physique and health considered basic requirement for selection of food animals • Pre-slaughter management of animals requires they should not be fatigued, excited or neurotic • Proper rest, absence of hunger and thirst and use of sharp knife alleviate pains of death