How we Live up to The Highest Halal Standards

From the suppliers we pick to the food we prepare, we’re proud to say that our sandwiches, subs, wraps and rolls always meet the highest halal standards.

But what does ‘halal’ mean?

‘Halal’ is an Arabic word that means ‘lawful’ or ‘permitted’. For us at Northern Bites, it means the meat we use in our sandwiches has been prepared in line with Islamic law.

Similar to the Jewish terms ‘kosher’ and ‘shechita’, halal food is about showing spiritual respect to the animal and slaughtering it in a way that upholds the Muslim faith.

This respect for the animal — and for the people who eat it — also extends to the cleanliness and atmosphere of the environment in which the meat is prepared.

Halal — and halal only.

As our SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approved) methods testify, we go to great lengths to make sure every element of food preparation is performed to the highest standards of cleanliness and care, so that every Northern Bites customer — whether non-Muslim or Muslim — enjoys the finest food to go.

A big part of this is making sure there’s no cross-contamination with non-halal produce, which is a risk taken by companies who mix halal and non-halal food production. That’s a risk we’ll never take, so we only ever produce halal food — giving our customers 100% peace of mind with 100% delicious food.

But what about ‘tayyib’?

Much of the furore and scaremongering about halal meat has sought to sew division amongst people under the guise of animal welfare. But what isn’t focused on so much about the halal tradition is how it emphasises how the animal lives, as much as how it dies.

For Muslims, this is the concept of ‘tayyib’, which loosely translates as ‘pure’ and ‘wholesome’. Tayyib is about showing respect to the animal while it’s alive, so that when it’s prepared for eating, it’s lived a life according to the highest welfare standards — the standards we follow at Northern Bites. To us, there’s little point in debating how an animal dies without first considering the conditions in which it lives.

A fresh approach

Unlike many of our competitors, we use fresh chicken for the majority of our produce. This costs more than pre-cooked chicken, but that extra expense makes for a far tastier and better-quality end product. What’s more, we absorb that extra cost without passing it onto our customers, so they get a better bite at a brilliant price.

And, in-keeping with the code of halal, we buy our chicken from Halal Monitoring Committee-approved butchers. These butchers are highly skilled and experienced, making sure animal suffering is minimised while maintaining adherence to Islamic tradition.

We also use local butchers, so as to reduce carbon footprints in transportation and to give local businesses the support they deserve.

Northern Bites = fairer food

From the way our animals our reared to the quality we insist on for our customers, a Northern Bites sandwich, sub or roll isn’t just delicious, it’s fairer all around.

And if our customers are happy with how we do it, then we reckon yours will be, too. To find out for sure, drop us a line right here and become a Northern Bites stockist today.