About Halal Kobe Beef

Halal, often used in reference to food, in Arabic means permissible or lawful. It is food allowed for Muslims to eat under Islamic Law.

There are specific guidelines to the ritual slaughter of an animal. First, it must be alive and the stunning before slaughter is not allowed. A sharp knife is used to cut straight through the throat so to kill the animal instantly all while a Muslim recites a prayer dedicating the slaughter to Allah. Finally, the animal must be hung upside down and bled dry for eating blood is not halal. All facilities and equipment used in slaughter houses and processing plants MUST be halal certified.

As the host for the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Japan has been taking strong measures to better accommodate Muslim visitors. But not only is Muslim tourism growing but the Muslim world is also in demand of halal certified Japanese products. In 2014, Hyogo Prefecture specifically drew a supplementary budget to allocate to both tourism and halal certification to meet these demands.Kobe Shinbun / Feb. 2014

As mentioned in (2) of Defintion of Kobe Beef, the criteria has now changed to "a halal certified slaughterhouse in Hyogo Pref.,” making it even more difficult to obtain the meat from the Tajima bull that it can truly be called Halal Kobe Beef. It is important for our customers to understand that, for this reason, the amount of Halal Kobe Beef that can be sold is more limited than Kobe Beef itself. That is why we are proud to be the only retailer to sell Halal Kobe Beef at this time.

And only after Halal Certification [mentioned above] is given to the slaughter house and after passing strict Kobe Beef guidelines [mentioned right]; can it finally be called HALAL KOBE BEEF.