Consuming halal food is one of the most important doctrines of the Islamic Shariah. Negligence in this aspect may result in our prayers and actions not being valid.
HMC Halal Monitoring Committee was established for the sole purpose of maintaining decorum.
HMC is an independent, non-profit registered charity organisation. It monitors, inspects, and certifies Halal products for the Muslim community to confidently buy genuine halal food.
Read along to find out more about HMC’s standards and the process it follows to maintain a top-quality meat supply.
Issues Leading To The Formation Of HMC
For many years, Muslims in the UK have had deep concerns regarding the authenticity of Halal meat and its associated products.
Not everything that has been tagged Halal is genuinely Halal. The Arabic symbol of Halal labelled on products, is not protected by UK Law.
There have been many cases where the word Halal has been misused, however, the product needs to be genuinely Halal.
Many butchers and restaurants that receive deliveries have the tag of halal on it.
They are unaware of the full supply chain of where their meat has come from, the life cycle, and the halal way of sacrifice, it all has to be along with the guidelines.
According to research, statistics show that over 90% of the Halal labelled meat and poultry is in doubt.
One such issue was reported in Tottenham & Wood green Independent. They found the meat that was delivered as Halal meat had traces of pork, and was served to the Muslim community.
Another reason leading to the formation of HMC is that jurists have derived a principle from the Islamic Shariah. The principle deems everything permissible and Halal until proven to be prohibited.
Except for meat, where all meat is considered HARAM unless proven to be Halal.
Hence, the formation of such an organisation that would ensure the check and balance of halal food for Muslims was unavoidable.
Halal Criteria Followed By HMC
The HMC has to follow the principles set by the Islamic Shariah (laws) for its procedure to be inscribed halal. Therefore, HMC strictly adheres to these Islamic Shariah rules:
- The animal must be healthy and alive before slaughter (not to mention the species must also be correct)
- Compulsory recitation of Takbeer (Tasmiyah) by a Muslim slaughterman on every animal. (Audio recitation of takbeer in the background is not an acceptable alternate)
- The weapon (knife) must be sharp enough to ensure swift and humane incision, and to make the animal insensible to pain. (hand slaughter)
- Ensuring 3 of the 4 main vessels of the throat are cut.
- Ensuring the blood is completely drained out of the slaughtered animal
- Check cross-contamination, making sure no non-halal meat mixes with halal meat in the cutting or processing plants.
Understanding The HMC Halal End To End Process
HMC follows the given criteria at all times to maintain its Halal standards.
- Only trained Muslim slaughtermen are allowed.
- Abattoirs are pre-approved by the government.
- An HMC inspector is present at all times in abattoirs, cutting, and processing plants.
- The inspector makes sure the compliance of HMC halal standards is met on all products according to the ethics of halal.
- Government representatives are present throughout the production to ensure animal welfare standards are met.
- After a thorough inspection, every product is stamped with uniquely serialised labels that can be traced back to the supply chain.
- Trained HMC monitors visit certified stores on a random basis, almost daily, to ensure that only HMC-certified products are being sold at the certified store.
- An outlet is labelled “HMC Certified” if only it agrees to purchase and supply products that have gone through the HMC robust mechanism and allows regular monitoring of its premises by HMC officials.
This rigorous method ensures that the product has been independently checked, labelled, and traced. If the body is providing such clarity, consumers can also be confident in the source, and legitimacy of the meat.
HMC Halal – Approved By Leading Muslim Scholars
The HMC has been frequently in contact with leading Muslim scholars in making the organisation shari’ah compliant.
Many known religious scholars such as Justice Mufti Taqi Uthmani, Mufti Shabbir Saheb, Allama Shahid Raza, Mufti Ebrahim Desai, and many others have given HMC their blessings.
The names of such scholars give enormous confidence in the HMC Halal label.
HMC – Their Goal
The ideology behind HMC is:
‘The Muslim community to be confident that the products they use and consume are Halal.’
To reach their target they have affiliated themselves with several restaurants, retail stores, schools, meat suppliers, butchers, etc.
Buyers can be rest assured that the product they are purchasing or consuming is genuinely halal. The HMC label can be traced back to the supply chain, hence the consumer even gets the proof of the product being Halal.
We at SaveCo, are proud to only stock HMC certified Halal meat. As we can not take the risk of selling unauthorised, doubtful halal products to our Muslim consumers.
Halal Meat - Need of the Hour
As Muslims we must quest for Halal food as without it our actions and prayers remain at risk of being unanswered.
Surely, we don't want any doubts or grey areas. HMC Halal certification puts our mind at peace for the meat we are consuming is true to its promise - 100%.
As stated in the Holy book of Muslims; the Qur’an: “O Messengers, eat from the pure foods and work righteousness.” (Holy Quran 23:51)
Many scientists and doctors now endorse halal meat as ‘best for consumption.’ The method ensures the meat is not contaminated, and draining the blood out reduces the chances of disease in meat.
