Halal food near you.
Restaurants, butchers, groceries.

What 'halal' actually means on a menu

Halal means permitted under Islamic law. For food this comes down to three categories:

1. The animal source. Beef, lamb, goat, chicken, and fish are halal. Pork is haram in any form (including bacon, ham, prosciutto, gelatin from pork). Most other land animals follow standard rulings.
2. How the animal was slaughtered. Zabihah slaughter means the name of Allah was invoked, the cut was made by a sharp blade across the throat, and the animal was alive at the moment of slaughter. Mechanical slaughter and stunning are debated; most scholars accept them under specific conditions.
3. Cooking ingredients. No alcohol-based cooking sauces or wine reductions. No haram fats (lard). No cross-contamination from haram items in shared fryers.

How to ask the right questions

Walking into a restaurant for the first time, the simplest three questions are:

• "Is your meat zabihah halal?"
• "Do you cook with any alcohol or wine?"
• "Do you serve pork anywhere on the menu?"

A halal restaurant will answer clearly and proudly. Vague answers, "we think so", or "I'm not sure" are signals to keep looking.

Halal certification logos to recognise

Logos from these certification bodies are widely trusted across the Muslim world. Each one has its own standards, but all require third-party audits.

• JAKIM (Malaysia) · the global gold standard, accepted in 80+ countries.
• HMC (UK Halal Monitoring Committee) · hand-slaughtered only.
• HFA (UK Halal Food Authority) · permits machine slaughter.
• IFANCA (USA) · ISO-accredited, used by major brands.
• MUI (Indonesia) · government-affiliated, widely trusted.
• ESMA (UAE) · the Emirates standards body.

See the full guide to halal certification logos →