Since the Halal slaughter ritual is our specialty, we present the method adopted by Assafa based on religious, scientific reference and practical experiences.

In poultry slaughterhouses

The speed of slaughtering chickens varies from one slaughterhouse to another so we rely on techniques to accomplish our mission

In cattle slaughterhouses

Assafa allocates one slaughterer because he has enough time between cow and other

Animal should be slaughtered with sharp object (knife)

The animal has to be slaughtered with a sharp object (knife) and in a fast way so that the pain of slaughter is minimised.

Cut wind pipe, throat and vessels of neck

The ‘slaughtering’ is to be done by cutting the throat, windpipe and the blood vessels in the neck causing the animal’s death without cutting the spinal cord.

Blood should be drained

The blood has to be drained completely before the head is removed. The purpose is to drain out most of the blood which would serve as a good culture medium for micro organisms.

The spinal cord must not be cut because the nerve fibres to theheart could be damaged during the process causing cardiac arrest, stagnating the blood in the blood vessels.

Blood is a good medium for germs and bacteria

Blood is a good media of germs, bacteria, toxins, etc. Therefore the Muslim way of slaughtering is more hygienic as most of the blood containing germs, bacteria, toxins, etc. that are the cause of several diseases are eliminated.

Meat remains fresh for a longer time

Meat slaughtered by Islamic way remains fresh for a longer time due to deficiency of blood in the meat as compared to other methods of slaughtering.

Animal does not feel pain

The swift cutting of vessels of the neck disconnects the flow of blood to the nerve of the brain responsible for pain. Thus the animal does not feel pain. While dying, the animal struggles, writhers, shakes and kicks, not due to pain, but due to the contraction and relaxation of the muscles deficient in blood and due to the flow of blood out of the body.

 Methods slaughter Not accepted by Assafa 

The captive bolt pistol used commonly for cattle, calves and goats.

It is the shooting, by a gun or pistol in the forehead (mechanical method) by a blank cartridge or compressed air. It could be penetrating or non-penetrating (percussion stunning). It breaks the skull, shatters and destroys the brain. A rod of steel is introduced in the skull hole to smash, cut and destroy the brain All this occurs before the real slaughtering cut is made. Recently, a new method by which a steel needle to penetrate the skull and brain and in which air is injected to cause intercranial pressure has been developed.

Problem and harm with this method include:

The Animal paralysis while still conscious Broken skull fractures and significant brain damage Brain pollution

Splash of blood from blood vessels in muscles and meat with some blood clotting.

Cerebral hemorrhage as a result Bruises and injuries caused by the heavy fall of the animal after the shooting the penetration of the captive bolt can actually kills the animal.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is done by moving the animal through a room which contains a mixture of CO2 and air (about 65/70% CO2 by volume).It is a form of chemical strangulation. CO2 is a harmful gas to be inside the body.

Problem and harm with this method include:

Considerable, unacceptable stress (violent excitation, general agitation and convulsions).

‘CO2 stunning is more stressful than either properly applied electrical or captive bolt stunning.

Suffocation, strangulation and death to the animal before the cut

Toxic effect of the gas on the blood and physiology.

Electrical Stunning

Electrical Stunning could be to head and brain only or to head and back or to the legs, and there are three varieties:

1. Low Voltage Electrical Stunning by a pair of scissors-like tongs with circular or rectangular electrodes which are usually immersed in a saline solution then applied to the side of the head. Voltage is not less than 75 volts (50 Hz mains frequency) for not less than seven seconds.or by passing poultry in an electrified water basin

Problem and harm with this method include:

It is cruel, by giving an electric shock directly, with no anesthesia;

paralysis while the animal is conscious (pain)

doubt about the effect and feeling of pain.

unreliable: missed shots and re-stunning.

Recovery of the animal usually occurs within 30-40 seconds.

Electric stunning only induces paralysis, not unconsciousness, leaving the animal helpless but completely conscious to pain.

Some scientists and physiologists have expressed serious misgivings; some are of the opinion that the animal is merely paralyzed by the electric current and so prevented from making a sound or a movement while fully conscious and experiences great pain as the current passes through its body.

Such views are shared by the following Professors and Scientists:

1. a) Prof. A.C. Ivey (North Western University of America)
2. b) Prof. M.J. Hertz, of France
3. c) Prof. Roos & Koopmans, Holland.

Stunning does not first involve passing an electric current through the animal’s body. The magnitude of the current passed must be adequate; voltage of higher rating could lead to bone fractures.

Voltage of lower rating produces electric convulsions without inducing unconsciousness. A lower voltage rating needs longer application and this being a matter of judgment, the human element could lead to failure. The variations in the sizes of animals and their individual resistance to the current are also important considerations.

One should now realise that the Islamic method of slaughtering animals is not inhumane or cruel at all but is scientifically the best method.