Halal Food Authority :: Origins of Halal Food Authority

Halal Food Authority (HFA) was launched in 1994 as an independent, non-profit making organisation, to monitor and authenticate the halal meat and poultry trade in the UK. It was found that 80 to 85 per cent of raw meat was coming from slaughterhouses which could not prove the validity of their claim of halal. In fact despite of facilities given by the Slaughterhouse Act 1974 the providers of meat were contravening Islamic covenants.

Equipped with the Slaughterhouse Act 1974 and Islamic jurisprudence, HFA undertook to license slaughterhouses for halal purposes on contractual basis and, detailed their inspectors to not only monitor slaughtering but also to put their tags or visible markings, for identification of halal carcasses from non-halal. HFA inspectors in the field checked and monitored the meat chain from slaughterhouse to the distributor and from distributor to the retailer outlets, ensuring that the meat for the end-user to consume is authenticated as halal. Thus creating and maintaining full up and down traceability. HFA does not use or license slaughterhouses where pigs are killed or pig carcasses are stored.

HFA ensures that nationally slaughterhouses and cutting plants are EU approved and comply with the relevant regulations, namely environmental health rules, meat hygiene rules, and adhere to HACCP remits. Slaughterhouse approved in other countries must also comply with, if in EU, EU rules and, if outside the EU, the rules of their respective countries. However, Islamic axiom and criteria must also be applied at all times. HFA also licenses meat and poultry distributors nationwide.