What is halal meat

asks Dooza:
A. Halal means 'lawful' or 'permitted' and Muslims are permitted to consume only Halal foods and drinks.

�

Q. Can you give some examples of Halal foods and drinks
A. Certainly. There's milk - from cows, sheep, camels or goats, honey, fish, fresh or naturally frozen vegetables, fresh or dried fruits, wheat, rice, rye, barley and oats. Meat from cows, sheep, goats, deer and chickens is also Halal, but it must be Zabihah - that is, slaughtered according to Islamic Rites.

�

Q. How is that done
A. Halal meat is culled without using electrical currents or stun guns. Instead, the animal is blessed and then killed by a Muslim with single stroke of a knife.

�

Q. What about foods that are not Halal
A. Foods which are forbidden to Muslims are called 'Haram', which means 'unlawful' or 'prohibited.' They include pork and all by-products of pigs, anything made with blood, carnivorous animals, alcohol and other intoxicants. And they turn up in the most unexpected places: children at a Birmingham school recently boycotted Walkers cheese and onion crisps because they discovered that the crisps contained an animal extract - the enzyme rennet which comes from a calf's stomach. They found this out because Muslim children refused to eat them!

�

Q. There must be a lot of foodstuffs�that contain forbidden ingredients...
A. Yes, they're often the 'Mushbooh' products. Mushbooh means 'doubtful' or 'suspected', and is used to describe something which doesn't have a clear Halal or Haram status. For example, food containing gelatine, enzymes, emulsifiers and so on is Mushbooh.

�

Q. Does it make for a monotonous diet
A. Far from it. By junking the junk food ingredients, it's extremely healthy. And if you're looking for excitement, take yourself down London's Brick Lane where you'll even find a halal pizza!

�

Do you have a question about food and drink Post it here

�

By Sheena Miller

�

�