Leader Meat Packing, which is the first place that comes to mind when it comes to 'halal slaughter' in the United States, continues to distribute halal meat to the north-east of the country with its facility in Pennsylvania. Leader Meat, which attaches great importance to halal slaughter, stands out as one of the rare companies that carries out the transactions of animals facing the qibla, reciting the Bismillah, and paying attention to the time when the power of attorney is taken.
BEWARE OF ANIMALS THAT HAVE BEEN SHOCKED AND SLAUGHTERED!
Describing the practices of Leader Meat, Mehmet Emin Korkmaz, one of the owners of the company, underlined that they attach great importance to "halal slaughter". Emphasizing that the most obvious feature of halal slaughter is 'blood', Mehmet Emin Korkmaz said, "There are two main elements in halal slaughter, one of which is "tesmiye", that is, "Bismillah - Allah-u Akbar", which means that every animal is slaughtered without being tortured, and the other is that there is no need for shocking during the slaughtering process. no additional intervention. Unfortunately, at the point where the industry has reached, these interventions are implemented in terms of product quality, efficiency, and time management. Blood in Islam; It is not halal because it contains toxic substances and harms human health. Therefore, maximum blood must be drained from the sacrificial animal during slaughter. Unfortunately, these practices are where we, as Leader Meat, differ from many halal certification companies in terms of halal standards. In animals slaughtered by stunning, due to the slowing down of metabolism in the brain due to fainting, blood remains in the veins after slaughter, thus the purpose of halal is not fulfilled as it harms human health. For the industry, this increases efficiency as it produces more grams of meat per animal and saves time. Halal slaughter should not be sacrificed for this purpose. Unfortunately, these spiritual approaches of people are exploited in the industry for profit-making purposes. To give an example; "If 100 grams of blood comes out of 10 kilograms of meat, 100-150 grams of blood comes out of frozen meat," he said.
Emphasizing that the slaughtering process is not just about cutting the animal's throat, Mehmet Emin Korkmaz said, “Both Americans and Muslims shock, then they cut the animal's throat. The method of both of these is the same. We certainly don't have anything like that; We slaughter without shocking. With this traditional method, the animal struggles and throws out all the blood in its veins. Thus, the animal's veins are clean and there are no blood clots in them. With this method, the animal with minimal blood remaining is finally hung and its inside is thoroughly cleaned. "In this way, since there is no blood left in the animal, the taste, health and reliability of the meat is ensured," he said.
“Slaughtering is being done without following religious rules”
Mehmet Emin Korkmaz stated with regret that many Muslims in the United States slaughter animals in their businesses under the name of halal slaughtering facilities without complying with religious rules and said, “In the halal slaughter system, you have to turn the head of an animal towards the qibla while slaughtering it. It is necessary to turn towards the qibla and recite the basmala for each animal, one by one. At our slaughterhouse here, I am personally in charge of the work; because this has a great responsibility. I slaughter halal and sell it as 'Halal Slaughter', and I do not sell meat that I would not eat myself. In short, I have to stay on top of the job while the cutting is being done, and I will. Others may have some work to do, I don't know, but do they all say Bismillah and Allah-u Akbar? I have also heard that there are people who start only once in the morning by saying "to the knife". This is what we heard, there are even people who write Bismillah and Allah-u Akbar on the knife and say okay. Non-Muslim employees work and they make them memorize it too. We have also heard of non-Muslims who slaughter, and they do all of this in halal slaughterhouses. We cannot blame anyone for this. "We cannot direct anyone," he said.
“A CONTROL MECHANISM IS REQUIRED”
Mehmet Emin Korkmaz, who reproached the lack of a control mechanism, pointed out that the same problems exist in Turkey and said that he witnessed the slaughtering process in existing slaughterhouses being carried out in an abusive, angry and cruel way to the animals. Arguing that the control system in America is in a very good condition compared to that in Turkey, Mehmet Emin Korkmaz emphasized that there should be unity among businesses and steps should be taken to improve the current system here.
“NON-Muslims are being slaughtered”
Mehmet Emin Korkmaz stated that a special permit was received from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for halal slaughtering without the shocking method and added: “For this, a commitment is made that the slaughtering will be done in a halal way with halal employees.” In this case, USDA allows slaughtering without freezing. There is an important point here: If the USDA knows that the person performing the slaughter is not a Muslim, it does not allow it. However, as Adnan (Dağlı) Abi said: We saw that non-Muslim nations were slaughtered.” Mehmet Emin Korkmaz also stated that some people introduced themselves as Muslims or said that they had changed religion and said, "In this case, USDA allows the slaughter because it does not know whether the person is a Muslim or not and cannot question it."
LEADER MEAT ALSO STARTED DÖNER PRODUCTION
Mehmet Emin Korkmaz, who distributes meat to Muslim businesses in the USA and underlined that they are a 'real' halal slaughter meat facility, said that they have started to produce döner.
HOW TO UNDERSTAND HALAL MEAT?
Adnan Dağlı also explained the methods of understanding whether the meat is 'shocked' or 'halal'. Dağlı said that primarily from the smell of the meat, it is understood that it is 'shocked' or 'halal' slaughter, and added: "The blood remaining in the meat changes its taste." Dağlı also emphasized the difference between slaughtering by Muslims and Christians and said, “For example, if we consider that a twin animal is slaughtered, let's assume that one of them is slaughtered by a Muslim and the other by an American. In the halal slaughter performed by a Muslim, all the blood should be drained, but in the other case, a shock slaughter should be performed; "That's when the difference in taste changes 101 percent," he said.
“WE ALSO PAY ATTENTION TO THE TASTE OF THE MEAT”
Emphasizing that Leader Meat pays attention not only to the halal slaughter point but also to ensure that the meat of the animal is delicious, Mehmet Emin Korkmaz said, “All the animals are grazed outside because the land is large. In winter, they feed on millet and millet stalks cut from the land in summer. We make sure that the animals we buy are not fed with medicated feeds. There are certain blacklisted manufacturers. These are inspected by the USDA. Whether it is sheep or cattle, there are people who are blacklisted by the USDA when they see that the antibiotics they use show up in the tests and we take them from them. I buy from farmers I trust, from men I trust. So I choose specially. "Our aim is to slaughter properly fed, high-quality animals in accordance with Islamic methods and provide customers with the most delicious and healthiest meat," he said.
“WE ARE THE REASON OF PREFERENCE BECAUSE WE PROVIDE QUALITY MEAT”
Stating that they do not have any problems in supplying meat to well-known places because the quality of their meat is always high, Mehmet Emin Korkmaz stated that the reason why they are preferred by restaurants is 'quality meat'.
LEADER MEAT ENTERS THE 'CHICKEN' SECTOR
Giving the good news that they are planning to enter the chicken industry in the future, Dağlı said, “We sell halal chicken, but since the slaughtering process is not carried out by us, we cannot fully vouch for our customers. That's why we are thinking of entering the chicken industry in a short time. "Similarly, we offer the 'halal' brand of tenderloin that most of our customers want, but we also state that we do not vouch for the 'halalness' of any of them other than the carcass meat we cut ourselves," he said.
“WE COMPLY WITH UAMA'S Strictness in Chicken Slaughtering”
Adnan Dağlı said that they comply with the strictness of the United American Muslim Association (UAMA) in chicken slaughter. Emphasizing that extreme attention should be paid to the halal status of the chicken here, Dağlı said, “Slaughtering the chicken halal is the beginning of the path, but plucking the feathers or putting it in hot water while swimming spoils its halalness. As it is known, chicken is a poultry and it is contaminated with many microbes wherever it is found. When the cut chicken is placed in hot water, its skin opens and that dirt or germ gets into the meat. For this reason, chickens treated in this way can be dangerous. That's why we follow the rules and methods of 'Bereket Halal Meat', an organization of UAMA (newly opened in Paterson, New Jersey, which shares the same sensitivity with us), and produce "custom chicken", where the chicken is plucked by hand without entering hot water or sold without skin. “We provide it in partnership with Bereket Halal Meat,” he said. "We are trying to open a chicken slaughterhouse that slaughters and produces with this method," he said.
EXTRA IMPORTANCE TO THE SUTTER OF SACRIFICAL ANIMALS
Underlining that they are extremely meticulous about sacrifice, which has great importance in Islam, Dağlı continued his words as follows:
“The procedure of proxy in sacrifice is very important. The businesses we work with receive lamb or calf shares from their customers and forward them to us. Since there are obligations such as wajib and fard in this, we definitely have to slaughter that animal.
The obligatory sacrifices made during Eid al-Adha must be sacrificed by the afternoon prayer on the third day of Eid al-Adha and the intention must be acted upon.
“WE STAND BEHIND THE PROMISE WE MADE DURING SACRIFICE”
You don't normally look at the ears, horns or tail of an animal slaughtered for meat, but the animal slaughtered for sacrifice, a calf; He must be 2 years old, his horns must be complete, his teeth must be complete, his eyes must not be blind, his tail and ears must be complete; There should be nothing missing and he should be able to walk to the slaughtering place.
Sick animals are never slaughtered. Unfortunately, we have heard of people who slaughtered animals in this situation as sacrifices, but could not slaughter them on the third day, but slaughtered them on the fourth day. As Leader Meat, we do not take such responsibility and we stand behind our promise and slaughter the sacrificial animal before the afternoon prayer on the third day.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCATIONAL SACRIFICES
Dağlı, who conveyed the procedure applied at Leader Meat, where votive animal slaughter is also carried out in addition to Eid al-Adha, said that there are different types of slaughter such as "votive sacrifice", "akika sacrifice", "gratitude sacrifice" and "healing sacrifice". For this reason, Dağlı stated that the animal should be sacrificed in a short time and said, “For example, a person who will undergo surgery wants to have a sacrificed animal slaughtered for the purpose of healing. That animal needs to be slaughtered “at that moment”. "If it is postponed arbitrarily, it would be a sin," he said.
“WE ARE TAKING A VIDEO OF THE VICTISM AND SENDING IT”
Dağlı concluded his words as follows:
“We protect the sensitivity of our religious brothers regarding the issue of votive sacrifice. In this context, we immediately slaughter the sacrifices delivered to us and send them along with the videos of the sacrifice to those who request the video. In this context, we respond to the needs of Muslims for votive sacrifices by receiving fiqh consultancy from UAMA, which has been guiding the Muslims of America, who have been sensitively protecting the votive sacrifices of Muslims for years.”
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