The California Department of Food and Agriculture is considering increasing food safety regulations that would in part order custom slaughterhouses to first stun animals before a nonemployee can come in and cut the animal's throat.
"In general, Muslims aren't supposed to eat meat that was stunned because halal requirements prohibit stunning," said Zahra Billoo, the Bay Area's executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Many Muslims believe for an animal to be slaughtered in accordance with the Quran, it must be killed by cutting its throat with a long sharp blade, causing it to bleed to death. The animal cannot be rendered unconscious or killed beforehand, the council wrote in a letter to the Department of Food and Agriculture after notice was given about the proposed regulation. [San Francisco Chronicle] Read more
