Please can you advise what is the difference between Free Range and Organic meat?
By law any meat that is sold as organic MUST be stunned, if you are told otherwise you need to question this! WE at ZUSS do not believe in stunning all of our meat is hand slaughtered unstunned, where no animal sees any other animals whilst this being done.
BUSINESS MEN CONDONE STUNNING ISLAM DOESN’T
ORGANIC
Due to the fact that we are 100% UNSTUNNED we are unable to join any certifying bodies. Please see below Soil Association Standards.
SOIL ASSOCIATION ORGANIC STANDARDS NOVEMBER 2014
42.8 Stunning, killing and slaughtering
42.8.1 Live animals should not be able to see the stunning process. Note – we recognise that some animals are easier to handle and less stressed if stunning occurs in groups. However the law requires that no livestock should witness the sticking/bleeding process.
42.8.2 The stunning process must: x cause instantaneous unconsciousness and insensibility, or x induce unconsciousness without distress, and x maintain unconsciousness until the animal dies.
42.8.3 You must not slaughter animals without pre-stunning.
42.8.4 You must restrain animals effectively for stunning or killing, but you must not: x cause any injury, pain or distress, or x restrain them unless you will be stunning or killing them immediately.
42.8.5 Except for poultry, you must render animals unconscious before shackling and hoisting.
42.8.6 For all the stunning and killing equipment, you must: x have in place an effective cleaning and maintenance schedule based on the manufacturers’ instructions x appoint suitably trained and competent staff to clean and maintain them, and x keep adequate manual back-up or reserve equipment at the point of slaughter ready for use in case of emergency or breakdown.
As our chicks are all from an Organic Source we have decided to introduce Organic Feed, which we have started to phase in (April 2016). What this will mean is that our chickens will be raised exactly as the Organic Standard requires but we will not be able to obtain certification as we will not compromise and stun our animals. Current EU Legislation gives us exception from stunning at the point of slaughter Alhumdullilah.
SUMMARY Religious texts set down traditional methods of slaughter; simply using a knife to kill the animal. The right to continue using these methods is strongly contested between members of the Jewish and Muslim faiths and animal rights activists. Opponents of the practice feel that animals should be stunned before slaughter – standard industry practice worldwide – since this makes them unconscious and reduces the pain as they are cut and bled to death. However, there is no definitive scientific evidence that an animal does not feel pain whilst unconscious. Indeed, a counter argument put forward is that stunning may only stop an animal displaying pain. While the Jews accept absolutely no stunning, some Muslims have accepted it as long as it can be shown that the animal could be returned to normal living consciousness.
EU legislation grants exceptions from stunning for religious groups, so long as animals are well treated. Proper and good treatment of animals is a basic element of both the Jewish and Muslim religious texts. Halal meat (following Muslim practice) is produced in much greater quantities than Kosher meat (Jewish) in the EU. In some countries Halal and Kosher meat production seems to be significantly above the requirements of the respective religious populations; some is exported to other Member States.
How do you rear your chickens? And what are they fed?
We buy in one day old chicks then rear our chickens indoors for upto 4wks until they grow their outdoor feathers then we free range the birds between 8-14wks. They are slow grown to achieve maximum flavour.They are fed on a diet of ORGANIC feed and plenty of Organic grass. The feed comes from a local producer who has been milling for over 150 years.
Do you buy your chickens in from other farmers and then slaughter?
No we ONLY slaughter what we rear on the farm. We want to know what the livestock has eaten and how they are looked after and above how they have been raised farm. The only way that we can eliminate doubt is by doing it ourselves. We can tell you how our birds were raised, how they were cared for, right through to how they were slaughtered.
Are your chickens fed any antibiotics or growth hormones?
No absolutley not we rear in small batches of 100-200 birds with minimum 5 acres to roam, so we do not have any problems with disease. Factory farms that are intensively rearing chickens in huge sheds and are kept locked up all day and night require antibiotics to combat illnesses caused due to their environment. Sadly what they eat is then passed in to the food chain and ends up being consumed by people.We are told in many places in the Quran to be careful of what we eat, everything we eat has an effect and we should be careful of what we put into our bodies.
How do we order and who else do you work with?
How much are your chickens? Why do you not charge a fixed price?
Our chickens are £6.80 per kg. As the weights vary so much per bird we want your transaction with us to be as Halal; which means you only pay for what we supply. Bird sizes can vary from 1.8-2.2kg per bird.
Do you offer an Aqeeqah service?
We are unable to offer an Aqeeqah service as we are only licensed to slaughter poultry at our farm. To arrange an Aqeeqah would mean arranging the animal to be transported live to the closest UNSTUNNED slaughterhouse which is in Norfolk and then arranging delivery back to the farm which is very costly and also stressful for the animal to be transported alone.
Can we slaughter our own animals at the farm?
All UNSTUNNED HALAL slaughter must be preformed by a fully licensed slaughter man in an EU approved abbatoir with a FSA Vet present monitoring the slaughter so we cannot allow anyone to come to the farm to slaughter their own animals unless they hold a poultry slaughter mans license. Our abattoir is licensed for all poultry but currently not for red meat.
What is HALAL and TAYYIB?
HALAL and TAYYIB addresses more than how the animal was slaughtered. To ensure that your transaction with us is HALAL we have Alhumdullilah invested our own HALAL money into building our abbatoir so there is no pressure to make repayments so we can focus wholly on the life of the animal so our money is HALAL. We charge you per weight so the weight is HALAL. We only sell animals that we rear we don’t buy in from other farms so the animal is HALAL. This also addresses the TAYYIB element of our promise, for the animal to be TAYYIB we are in control of how the animal is cared for, what it is fed and for the poultry right through to slaughter. Animal welfare is of the utmost importance.
Many Muslims condone stunning what are your views?
Our views and belief is simple. The animal must hear the dua at the point of slaughter so if it has been ELECTROCUTED, or as most like to call it low voltage stunned, how can the animal hear the words or even relax if a electric current has just been passed through its body? How can anyone guarantee that the stun didn’t kill the animal? Mainstream abattoirs are slaughtering over ten thousand birds an hour STUNNED they do not have time to switch off the line to check if the bird regains consciousness after each bird. When animals are stunned the pain that they are going through is not visible to us but independent research has proved that the nerves react and the animal goes into shock. There is a delay between STUNNING and CUTTING which allows the brain to release toxins in to the body of the animal which is then passed through into the meat. Also where the animal has been shocked all of the blood is not expelled from the body. BLOOD IS FORBIDDEN AS THIS IS WHAT CARRIES DISEASE AROUND THE BODY.
UNSTUNNED slaughter is quick clean and precise the cut not only stuns the animal by cutting off the blood supply but it also kills it at the same time and where the heart is not effected all the blood is expelled. Sadly statistics show that over 90% of halal meat is stunned in this country. It’s for the consumers to start making an informed decision and question what they are eating.
When can we buy your produce?
We send out regular emails letting you know what we have for sale and how to order. We rear and slaughter chickens from March through to November, we offer free range hand dry plucked turkeys in December. Red meat is available once a year as we like to rear them to at least a year old. We as muslims have a responsibility to the animal and to ensure that they have had a good life and that’s what we are trying to ensure here at the farm. We won’t cut an animals life short just because someone wants to eat it. Its takes twelve weeks to rear chickens, six months to rear turkeys and a year to rear lamb and goats so if it takes that long to rear them then it raises the question how often should we be eating it? We only send animals to slaughter once a year as we focus on the rearing and let them live a natural weight and slaughter at a year old. Sadly animals are now seen as a commodity and unfortunately mainstream farming has now become like factories, building animals to a certain specification in the quickest time possible.
Do you sell goats milk?
We don’t milk our goats as we leave the kids on the mums to feed. If we were to milk them then we would need to feed the kids powdered milk.
What else do you sell?
Alhumdullilah we have our own beehives and harvest raw honey once a year. We also have a flock of egg laying birds and have fresh eggs for sale from the farm.
What is the difference between you and other Muslim Farms?
Simply that WE REAR, we’re not buying in animals to slaughter we only slaughter what we rear; WE CARE, we are in total control of how the animal has been reared; what it has been fed and how it has been treated ; WE SLAUGHTER, we slaughter all poultry 100% UNSTUNNED hand slaughtered on our farm and red meat is slaughtered at a UNSTUNNED Slaughterhouse; WE SHARE, we sell direct to the public ensuring that you receive our products .