Stunning Compliance in Halal Slaughter: A Review of Current Scientific Knowledge

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Stunning renders animals to an unconscious state before slaughter improves animal welfare by reducing stress, alleviating pain, and minimizing fear. Muslim scholars are not unanimous on the issue of the application of stunning in the halal slaughtering of animals as some scholars perceived it as more painful, obstructing free blood flow, and causing the death of animals prior to the halal cut. Scientific findings suggest that halal compliance stunning technologies are reversible, do not kill animals prior to the halal cut, and do not obstruct blood loss. The present review summarizes various stunning methods and their suitability for application in the halal slaughter. ABSTRACT: Muslim scholars are not unanimous on the issue of the application of stunning in the halal slaughtering of animals. Appropriate stunning makes animals unconscious instantaneously, thus avoiding unnecessary pain and stress during the slaughtering of animals. The present review comprehensively summarizes the available scientific literature on stunning methods in view of their halal compliance during the slaughter of animals. The issue of maximum blood loss, reversibility of consciousness, and animals remaining alive during the halal cut are the key determinants of approval of stunning in the halal slaughter. Further, missed stuns due to poor maintenance of equipment, improper applications, and poor restraining necessitates additional stunning attempts, which further aggravates pain and stress in animals. Scientific findings suggest that halal-compliant stunning technologies are reversible, do not kill animals prior to the halal cut, and do not obstruct blood loss. There is a need to carry out further research on the refinement of available stunning technologies and their application, proper restraints, proper identification of the death status of animals, and assurance of animal welfare in commercial halal meat production.