OK... I want to buy better quality meat. To avoid growth hormones and animal cruelty, I only buy organic & humanely raised meat... but someone told me both halal & kosher meats are better quality than "mainstream" stuff... is this true? Does halal & kosher processing mean the meat is better quality? Or do they just buy the same meat as everyone else and process it differently due to religious rules?
Eclectic Heretic
Favorite Answer
"A DRAGON" is correct that kosher/halal animals are killed in a ritual manner that is cruel. But your "factory" slaughterhouses are actually no less cruel, so that is irrelevant.
Reality is that, yes, halal/kosher meats ARE safer, they are more thoroughly inspected. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration is the lapdog of the meat industry. I don't trust them. I buy most meats at Sprouts, they are organic raised, grain-fed and hormone free. Not kosher/halal but still better than the mainstream stuff.
Blessings on your Journey!
Miss 6
Basically its a better quality of meat because of the cut - you're not going to get anything near the intestines or butt or feet of the animal - those are unclean areas. Also things like hormones are not considered kosher or halal so you don't get any of that crap in your meat. There is a special way to cut the meat and the animal is inspected to make sure there are not deformities. The meaning of kosher can vary from household to household. If you're lucky to live in a diverse area you can probably find some Orthodox neighborhoods in both Jewish and Muslim neighborhoods and just get your meat from one of their local butchers.
Also look into Amish meats - their animals usually don't have any hormones either.
?
For a cut of meat to be kosher, the animal has to be slaughtered by a specific person in a specific way. The original intention was for the killing to be humane, but apparently, mass production techniques have enabled cruel slaughter without violating the regulations. After slaughter, the carcass has to be inspected to be sure there were no significant illnesses.
There are other requirements, but hormones or other additives are not a factor in determining if meat is kosher.
Zvi the Pescatarian FIddler
Amar Saleem
it depends on the butcher, really, and a lot of the time 'halal' meat will have come from a badly mistreated animal that's been slaughtered in unhygienic conditions and so on, so be careful about it.. but if they're with the .. what are they called.. i think there's a cock on their logo but i can't remember exactly what they're called, 'national halal butchers' association' or something like that, then you can be fairly certain that the animals have been reared and slaughtered according to a very strict code of practice, i.e. they'll only use knives and never stun the animal, each animal will be slaughtered individually, chickens won't be kept in batteries, cows won't be fed meat or given hormones .. if i could remember the name of the organization who's codified these rules i'd give you a link to their web site so you could read about it yourself, but unfortunately i can't
Rengle
sure Halal meat is better , Allah says :
( 14 ) Does He who created not know, while He is the Subtle, the Acquainted? Quran (67:14)
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Shaddid b. Aus said: Two are the things which I remember Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) having said: Verily Allah has enjoined goodness to everything; so when you kill, kill in a good way and when you slaughter, slaughter in a good way. So every one of you should sharpen his knife, and let the slaughtered animal die comfortably.