This website and app has developed out of a concern for the growing amount of religiously slaughtered (halal and kosher) meat and poultry in UK shops, restaurants and takeaways. There is no legal requirement for meat and poultry to be labelled as religiously slaughtered or with the stunning method used. So religiously slaughtered meat is being consumed, unwittingly, by the wider public rather than the intended religious groups (Muslims and Jews).
The target audience of this website/app is:
- people who are concerned about the animal welfare practices of religious slaughter,
- people of other religions and those of no religion who do not want to eat halal or kosher, and
- people who are concerned that produce has been unnecessarily and religiously tampered with.
Our aim to to help people make an informed choice. Note that animal welfare issues are not exclusive to religious groups (e.g. gassing of pigs), but there are other websites that focus on those issues.
The Slaughter of Animals Act 1933 states that religious slaughter exemptions should only be used if the meat or poultry being killed is knowingly intended for consumption by the respective religious communities. This is clearly not the case. Many takeaways and restaurants are using halal produce where the market is clearly not specifically Muslim. Rejected parts of kosher and surplus halal slaughtered meat “alledgedly” ends up in butchers shops and supermarket shelves unlabelled.
The FSA Slaughter Sector Surveys of 2022 and 2024 shows that non-stun religious slaughter is increasing by 9% per year. It is known that non-stun halal is supplied to restaurants and takeaways (see the HMC website) so it is a concern to the wider public.
Farmers work hard to treat their animals well and to follow the UK’s stringent welfare legislation. Every aspect of the animal is safeguarded, on the field, field to auction, and auction to abattoir. Yet, despite the due care given throughout the animal’s life, the UK is happy to disregard all animal welfare at the point of slaughter and permit un-stunned slaughter or stunning methods that allow the animal to regain consciousness before slaughter. Accreditions such as Red Tractor and RSPCA Assured do not help in this regard as they do protect against, or identify, religious slaughter.
The first version of halalfree.uk was produced in November 2025. Before then, a number of Facebook groups published various lists of food producer codes which were shared in order to help consumers avoid religiously slaughtered meat. These FSA approval codes are found on the packaging and are there for traceability. Though the lists were useful, they were not easy to use in a shop. With Christmas 2025 looming and people being concerned about whether their Christmas dinner would be religiously slaughtered, we produced a web app enabling users to type in a food code and get a likelihood of the produce being halal or kosher. Since then the database has been enlarged to include the whole of the UK and the website now includes a food map of butchers and farm shops, restaurants and takeaways.
Maintaining the database is a lot of work. It isn’t static. A food producer can change their slaughter methods without disclosing it. We do our best to assess and reassess food producers and we regularly update the database to reflect new information. The food industry is very secretive about it’s slaughter methods and it’s suppliers. You must always consider the information provided as a risk assessment as unfortunately nothing is 100% certain: shops, eateries and food producers can mislead and lie, and they too can be misled and lied to by their suppliers. Ultimately you, as the consumer, must use all the available information and make your own judgement. Inquire with the shop, eatery or food producer directly, as making a purchase is a legally binding contract and you are protected by the Trades Description Act 1968, now superseded by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) which states that: “A trader is in breach of the regulations if they omit or hide information from the consumer as they are considering a purchase”.
Finally, why is it called HalalFreeUK? When the website/app was created most people used the word “halal” to mean “religious slaughter” (in much the same way people use “Hoover” to mean “vacuum clean”). The website/app has always checked for kosher as well. In any case, it has been pointed out on numerous occasions that the quantity of halal products is several orders of magnitude greater than kosher: especially, non-stun halal which is ten times the amount of all kosher (which is always non-stun). Incidentally, no-one ever mentions Jhatka which is the slaughter method for Sikhs who do not have a religious exemption. So to be 100% clear this site addresses all forms of religious slaughter.