Presentation from the 7th Penang International Halal Expo & Conference, 29 ~ 31 January 2016

1. Dr Mustafa Farouk
Food and Bio-based Products, AgResearch Limited;
Presentation at the 7th Penang Halal International Halal Expo & Conference (PIHEC), 29 - 31 January 2016,
Setia SPICE, Penang
Future Prospects for Halal Meat
Quality

2. Contents
1. Introduction
2. Importance of industrially produced halal meat
3. Definitions and importance
– Conventional meat quality
– Spiritual meat quality
4. Meeting the spiritual quality of industrial halal meat
 Technology drivers
 Animal welfare drivers
5. Pre-slaughter stunning and spiritual meat quality
 Future halal pre-stunning methods
6. Animal welfare and spiritual meat quality
7. Conclusion

3. Value (USD x 1000) of imported halal red meat, poultry and co-products of
some selected countries/regions in 2012
Importing country/region &
products
Red meat category Poultry
meat/offal
Chilled beef Frozen beef Lamb and
chevon
Edible offal
Halal red meat, poultry & co-products
Indonesia 11,499 127,715 8,083 16,792 1,209
Maghreb 57,276 305,497 36,842 3,940 175,520
Malaysia 16,972 410,097 95,742 48,336 108,341
Middle East 598,504 2,942,249 897,159 278,916 4,078,447
- Saudi Arabia 75,043 362,267 225,707 36,540 1,513,312
- United Arab Emirates 160,105 195,407 223,470 12,516 644,587
World total red meat import 19,803,464 17,797,649 5,642,451 6,786,811 25,041,855
Source: Market Analysis Research, International Trade Centre (ITC) Geneva Switzerland
(http://www.trademap.org/tradestat/Country_SelProductCountry_TS.aspx). Accessed 23 March 2014.
Maghreb = Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.
Middle East = Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, UAE and
Yemen.

4. • Conventional definitions of quality are based on
the inherent or perceived physical characteristics
of meat.
• For most consumers they determine the meat’s
appeal, acceptability, utility and, ultimately, its
value.
Meat quality

5. Conventional meat quality
• Consumers’ perception of meat quality is wide
and subjective
• This perception reflects among others:
 regional and national differences,
 ethnicity and culture,
 political and economic considerations,
 individual beliefs and ideologies, and
 package labelling information and context

6. MEAT QUALITY ATTRIBUTES
Quality
Extrinsic/
Intrinsic/
Convenience
Chilled/
Frozen
Halal/Origin
Animal
Welfare
Function/
Nutrition/
Health
Eating/Table
Technological/
Manufacturing
Credencefactors

7. Spiritual meat quality: Halal perspective

8. • Spirituality and ideology influence people’s attitude towards
the killing of animals and the consumption of meat.
• Consideration of the source, life and death of the animal adds
another dimension to meat quality - one that cannot be
evaluated by science or measured by instruments.
• Thus, in addition to all the conventional terms used to convey
the qualities of meat, “spiritual quality” is of foundational
importance for faith groups.
Spiritual meat quality

9. • Halal is a quality cue that is very difficult or impossible to
evaluate with the current methods.
• Therefore, trust is very important throughout the supply chain
for the acceptability of halal meat.
• Thus, sound traceability and involving those that Islam say can
be trusted in the supply chain are necessary for maintaining
the spiritual quality of halal meat .
Halal credence quality

10. Industrial halal meat production
• Halal livestock
• Slaughtered alive in accordance with Islamic shariah
• Complete death before any further
workup/processing
• Humane and considerate treatment of livestock
(minimum stress and pain prior to and during
slaughter)
• Safety of the slaughterer and all concerned

11. Critical points for the spiritual quality of halal meat

12. Pre-slaughter stunning
Purpose of stunning
– To render the animal insensible to pain
– To minimise fear, panic and other adverse effects
associated with slaughter
– Hygiene
– Worker safety

13. Halal consumers divide on stunning
1) Those who totally reject stunning as non-Halal compliant
2) Those who accept stunning regardless of the method used
3) Those who accept stunning but are not sure which method
is Halal compliant and want assurance in the following:
- Is the stunned animal alive before it was slaughtered?
- Is the stunning painful to the animal?
- Does it affect the wholesomeness of the meat?

14. Head-only electrical stunning and associated processes
• The animal is restrained in the head bail that
contains electrodes which contact the animals
head behind the ears and the tip of the nose.
• The animal is stunned across the brain with an
electric current of 1.5-2.5 A, 400V a.c. for 2-4
seconds.
• The animal is dropped onto a cradle or moving
table and the Halal cut is performed as soon as
practicable but usually within 10-15 seconds of
stunning.
• Electro-immobilisation electrodes contact the
animal between the nose and the anus and power
is turned on (80-90 V d.c., 300mAmp,10 ms pulse
at 15 pulses/sec).
• Electro-immobilisation is allowed to time out (15-
30 seconds).
Devine, 2007

15. Stunning and electro-immobilization

16. Potential halal pre-stunning methods
• Post-slaughter stun
• Reversible head-to-body electrical stunning
• Interferential current stunning
• Transcranial Magnetic stunning
• Microwave energy stunning
• Local or general anaesthesia with natural agents
• Modified atmosphere and Low Atmospheric Pressure stunning

17. Recoverable head-to-body electrical stunning
• Using high frequencies
(1-2A, 1000-2000 HZ, 350-500 V, 4 s)
• Current NZ MIA study (AgResearch Ltd, Massey University, FIANZ, UPM,
Jarvis Engineering Ltd)

18. Recoverable head-to-body stunning
• A current study comparing the use of high frequency
head-to-body and low frequency head-only electrical
stunning
• Bobby calves, cattle, sheep, goats will be minimally
anaesthetised, stunned using the two methods and
EEG recordings done
• Recovery following stunning and behavioural studies
carried out

19. Interferential current stunning
De Domenico, G. (1982). The Australian Journal of Physiotherapy, 28(3), 14–18;
Johnson and Tabasam (2003). Physical Therapy, 83(3), 208-223
• Used in acute and chronic pain management including
electro-narcosis and electro-anaesthesia
• Interferential Current is based on the summation of two
sinusoid alternating currents with their waveforms
slightly offset or out of phase
• This ‘mixing’ of the signals results in a low-frequency
current that consists of cyclical modulation of the
amplitude which is dependent on the difference of
frequencies of the two carrier signals
• When the signals are in phase, the carrier signals sum
to a value able to stimulate the tissue. When out of
phase, no stimulation results.
http://international.chattgroup.com/sites/defaul
t/files/intelect_neo_sell_sheet.pdf
19.2mA current amplitude

20. Transcranial magnetic stunning (TMS)
• Used in psychiatric therapy to induce seizures in patients
• Intense magnetic field is generated by passing a large
amount of current through a copper coil. The coil is
positioned close to the head so that the brain lies within
this magnetic field to affect a stun.
• Tried on 25 broilers with 20 successfully completed
• TMS at 35 or 50 Hz; 250-300 pulses; 80-51% power; 5 s
• EEG traces showed evidence of insensibility and a
dominance of theta and delta wave
• Unconsciousness lasted for 15 to 20 s
Lambooij et al. 2011. Animal Welfare 20: 407-412;
TMS Stimulator & coil:
http://www.magstim.com/product/1/70mm-
double-air-film-coil

21. Microwave Energy Stunning (MES)
Small et al. (2013) Animal welfare 22, 291-296.
• MES has been used in euthanizing laboratory animals
by raising the brain temperature by 8°C
• Four sheep were exposed to 4 kW of energy at 922
MHz for between 5 and 20 s. Temperature profiles,
EEG and histology of the brain and onset of recovery
following stunning were determined
• Application of microwave energy caused rapid
increases in brain temperature within 10-20 s to 43°C
(a point above which insensibility would be expected
to occur)
• EEG showed high amplitude activity similar to the
epileptiform activity induced by the current practice
of electrical stunning
Patent International Application No. PCT/AU2011/000527

22. Local or general anesthesia with natural agents
• Slaughter stress and pain can be reduced by local anaesthesia using the
commercial anaesthetics
• Residue in meat would render such application commercially unviable
• A commercial food-grade fish anaesthetic with iso-eugenol as the active
ingredient (AQUI-S™) has been approved for use in many countries
• This has been used to successfully anaesthetize fish including Atlantic cod
and salmon
• The availability of natural anaesthetics for fish raises the prospects of
others suitable for use in local anaesthesia of red meat animals prior to
slaughter

23. Spiritual quality: machine vs hand slaughter

24. Animal Welfare affects meat’s spiritual
quality
Science can tell us about an
animal…
Physical
Mental
Environment
..but this doesn’t get us all the
way…
Our beliefs and ethics also
have an important role to play
in deciding what is acceptable

25. “Psychic Premium”
Consumers are a driving force for animal welfare
standards

26. Consumer views on animal welfare
0
20
40
60
80
100
Stronglyagree/agree(%)
94.3% would like to see a
welfare scoring system to
be used in food stores
Willing to pay an
increasingly larger
proportion of their meat
expenditure for meat with
higher welfare scores
United Kingdom 2009
Kehlbacher, A., Bennett, R., & Balcombe, K. (2012).
Measuring the consumer benefits of improving farm
animal welfare to inform welfare labelling. Food Policy,
37(6), 627-633
Question: do you agree with the statement:
“Meat from animal with high welfare is…..”

27. Conclusion
• A substantial quantity of meat is produced around the world
using industrial halal methods and associated processes.
• The conventionally-defined attributes of meat quality are
demanded by halal and conventional consumers alike.
• additional attribute of “spiritual quality” is paramount for
those who consume halal for religious reasons.
• Consumers are increasingly associating meat quality with
animal welfare

28. Conclusion cont….
• Head-only pre-slaughter stunning or no-stunning are commonly
used in halal meat production
• There are a number of technologies currently being trialled with
potential to reduce quality defects associated with stunning when
they become commercially available.
• Research to produce technologies and processes to harmonise
the religious and the temporal requirements for the production
of halal meat of high spiritual and conventional quality is
continuing.

29. Additional references