Starting student and professional life in the UK for the Muslims may be exciting but also challenging, particularly if you have dietary restrictions like only eating Halal.

Searching for reasonably priced, convenient, and healthful food may be difficult; thus, we have developed this advice on where you could get Halal meat and ready meals.

Out of an overall UK total of £11 billion, the supporting study puts the value of the halal meat and poultry industry at slaughter at around £1.7 billion – which translates to almost 15% of the entire value.

Under an average anticipated industry revenue of £13.5 billion, assuming the market for halal stays constant at 15% over the following five years, this value is expected to increase to approximately £2 billion by 2028.

Our examination of Food Standards Agency statistics (FSA, 2022) indicates that 50% of all sheep and lambs slaughtered in the UK in 2022 entered the stunned halal market, and 22% entered the non-stunning market.

Based on statistics from Statista, we calculated the financial worth of halal sheep and lamb at slaughter at around £810 million out of an entire market value of £1.1 billion, thereby corresponding to almost 74% of total market value.

These numbers demonstrate that for the UK economy, as well as for UK farming and industry, the halal sheep sector has never been more vital. An NFU interviewee verified this by saying that without the halal sector, “the UK sheep industry would contract by a third, possibly more”.

Is Halal meat in the UK stunned before slaughter?

Halal Food Authority in the United Kingdom has developed Halal Meat Best Practice guidelines. This lets lamb undergo electric-tong stunning and water-bath stunning of poultry.

There’s another most reliable organisation in the UK i e., Halal Monitoring Committee. For the benefit of the Muslim community, the independent, non-profit, registered organisation HMC oversees, examines, and certifies Halal items.

Because of the strict procedures in place to guarantee the transparency of Halal products, HMC is currently the most trusted body in the UK, with the backing of more than 600 mosques. The numerous checks that are conducted from the slaughterhouse to the outlets demonstrate their high standards for Halal lifestyle.

To find which authority each item falls under, check the halal-certified sticker on its front or rear.

Where can you order halal cuisine online?

There are many websites designed especially for those wishing to purchase goods authorised for Halal. Among these websites are those of Halal online, Natural Halal Meat, Haji Baba and Abraham Organics. Tesco and Ocado also sell Halal pre-prepared meals and meats under same-day delivery. Regarding ready meals, Frozen Halal, Halal Ready Made Meals and Healthy Halal all provide reasonably priced, nutritious options.

Among the many colleges that provide halal choices on campus are the University of Exeter, the University of Manchester, Kent University, the University of Sheffield, the University of Oxford, Cardiff University, the University of Lincoln and the University of York – just to mention a few.

See the webpage of your institution to see if they have halal choices. If they don’t, they may usually correctly send you with halal eateries around.

How to find out whether the good or food is non-halal?

Knowing what the term “Halal” implies helps one to grasp halal food and goods. Halal is an Arabic term denoting “lawful,” or “permissible. Haram, meaning “unlawful,” or “forbidden,” is the reverse of halal. The Qur’an permits halal food and beverages for ingestion.

When shopping for food, search for items approved by a reputable Islamic group.

Examine the container for a label or seal of approval from an Islamic group like the Muslim Consumer Group for Food Products (MCGFP) or the Islamic Food and Nutritional Council of America (IFANCA).

Look at the ingredient list if the packaging lacks labeling. Some components, including gelatin derived from pig products, are almost always forbidden in halal cuisine. Though it is not stated on the label, alcohol may also be present in many food products. Many businesses use alcohol as a preservative or taste enhancer during manufacturing. For instance, although some vanilla extract products include alcohol, others do not.

Examining the nutrition label can help you.

Look for a “certified halal” mark and pay especially close attention to the ingredients list on the nutrition label if you are seeking items certified as halal in their preparation.

Though where you live may affect these symbols, one of the most often used is a green circle with a white crescent moon and star within.

Understanding the Halal tagline

Reading the ingredient list or the Halal label can help you to identify a Halal product. It reveals that the business employed Dubai’s laboratory testing facilities in order to certify the items are halal. This is a methodical way for spotting Halal products:

Look for the Halal symbol on the good, if it is present you may be certain the good is Halal certified and could purchase it.

If there is no Halal label, search the goods for components including animal equivalents. Ask if any animal-derived components utilized are from halal sources or not.

You may conclude that they are plant-based and so halal to eat if there are no animal components and if they are not stated in simple English on the container label.

Better not to buy a product if any of these guidelines cannot be followed for it and you are unsure of its source and nature and you cannot locate a substitute for it.

Should the box itself not have a halal designation, you may always ask the merchant.

Halal Marketplaces

We have gathered for you a table of some halal marketplaces in the United Kingdom, along with their addresses:

Which is the Best Website From which to Buy Halal Food/Products?

Halal Online is currently serving the United Kingdom. This is a platform where you can get unlimited resources to buy halal products, meat shops, marketplaces, and masjid locations.