Halaal and choice

Big grocers have been insisting on being supplied with halaal meat and meat products. And the tendency has been that the bigger the business, the firmer the insistence, with most chain stores priding themselves in being exclusively halaal.

But halaal - the method of slaughtering animals under the oversight of imams that also involves the draining of blood from the carcass - comes at a cost. As we understand it, imams charge a fee - currently P1.50 for a fowl, for instance - for the service.