The Complete Guide to Hand Slaughtered Chicken and Why It Matters
This guide is an introduction to the world of halal chicken, specifically hand-slaughtered or hand cut chicken. We are going to go into detail about why hand-slaughtered halal chicken is important. We will also explore what the process entails and the reason for its popularity.
What’s Halal Chicken?
Halal or hand slaughtered chicken is a form of poultry that follows Islamic dietary laws. Also known as hand cut chicken. In this guide, we will be exploring the difference between halal and zabiha chicken where the latter is a machine-cut poultry.
What’s Zabiha Chicken?
Zabiha or machine-cut poultry does not follow Muslim religious dietary guidelines. Most of these chickens are raised in factory farms but there are some organic versions available for purchase which require certification from an accepted third party.
Differences between Hand Slaughtered or hand cut chicken vs Machine cut chicken?
While most people associate the words chicken slaughtering with a mechanized process, there is another way of doing it – hand-slaughtering. In the US, the demand for this type of meat has been on a steady rise. In fact, it is predicted to grow by 21% in the next decade. Furthermore, halal slaughterhouses are on the rise globally. There are now around 3 million Muslims in France and 80% of them follow the halal diet.
Hand cut chicken slaughtering process is different from the machine-killed one because it requires skillful technique to handle live animals. The chicken needs to be stabbed with a sharp knife with one forceful strike to stop its heart from beating and let blood flow out freely with no spasms or twitches.
The meat is then cleaned and rinsed with fresh cold water. If the chicken is washed in warm water, it’s dried off with a clean towel and put to rest.
In the next stage, the chicken may be plucked or not plucked. If they’re plucked, they’re also scalded and chilled at this point before being packed and sent to the retailers.
If they’re not plucked, they’ll be dipped back into hot salted water for a second time before being chilled again, after which they may be put in ice baths to ensure freshness.
Why does hand slaughtered chicken matter?
The practice of hand slaughtering as a means to provide the highest quality and most nutritious chicken meat possible is something that needs to be better understood by consumers. The art of hand slaughtering chickens is an ancient tradition which has been perfected over the centuries and is now practiced by very few butchers and chicken producers around the world.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines organic meat as meat that comes from animals that are fed only organic feed. The idea is to offer strict guidelines for how animals should be raised in order to provide food to consumers who demand it.
The consumer demand for organic chicken has increased over the years, which has led to more and more companies trying out new ways to meet the demand. Some of these companies are using hand slaughtered chicken, which is one way they can do this.
There are many benefits of hand slaughtered chicken vs machine slaughtered chickens, including antibiotic free meat and humane handling of the animal before it’s killed. Hand slaughtered chickens also have a shorter period of suffering from living conditions as well as a higher life expectancy than machine slaughtered chickens. Hand-slaughtered chickens are considered to be more humane than their machine-cut counterparts.
Now the question is where to buy from?
Due to the fact that the human-slaughtering process is much more complicated than mechanized slaughtering, hand-slaughtered chickens are rarer. However, the few local butchers who still offer this service prove it’s worth. If you are in Georgia, you can get hand slaughtered or hand cut chicken and meat from Al Barakah Halal Meat located in Decatur, Georgia.