Certified zabiha in Chicago: how to check who certified it

Muzzmi's Chicago page lists the halal restaurants, grocers, butchers and masjids in the city, certified places first, and each row names the certifier. The HMS certified page lists every outlet on HMS's own register that Muzzmi has, grouped by city, Chicago and its suburbs included. A listing is marked Certified on Muzzmi only while the certifier's register still names it; Muzzmi re-reads the big registers every week.

HMS, Halal Monitoring Services, is a Chicago based non-profit that certifies and monitors hand slaughtered halal meat from the slaughterhouse to the restaurant, with unannounced inspections, and publishes its certified list online. ISNA Halal Certification, run by the Islamic Society of North America from Plainfield, Indiana, certifies mostly food producers and products rather than restaurants, so its mark appears on packaging in Chicago grocers. HFSAA also certifies restaurants through regional chapters. Halal certifiers compared sets out what each one requires.

Devon Avenue in West Ridge is Chicago's South Asian high street, with halal restaurants, sweet shops and butchers along several blocks, but not every one of them is certified, so check the badge on each listing. Bridgeview, around the Mosque Foundation, and the southwest suburbs have a dense cluster of halal places, and the northwest suburbs have many Muslim families and halal shops of their own. Use the Chicago page and the nearby city links on it for the suburbs.

HMS certifies hand slaughtered meat only: a Muslim slaughterer, God's name said over each animal, at least three of the four main vessels of the throat cut. Machine slaughtered poultry, common in the wider halal trade, does not qualify. Some Muslims accept machine slaughter and others do not; Muzzmi shows which certifier, if any, stands behind each place. Hand vs machine slaughtered and Halal vs zabiha explain the difference.

Find it on the certifier's own list: HMS publishes its certified listing, and HFSAA says a business not on its list is not certified. Read the certificate on the wall for the date, the name and what it covers, since a supplier's certificate does not cover the restaurant. Ask which supplier the meat comes from. Illinois law requires halal sellers, restaurants included, to register with the state and name their certifier. How to tell if a restaurant is halal has the full checklist, and chains such as The Halal Guys have their own pages.

Certified zabiha meat for home comes from HMS-listed butchers and grocers, many of them on Devon Avenue and in the southwest suburbs, and from certified brands sold in those shops. The Chicago page's grocers and butchers section lists them with their status, and Where to buy a halal turkey covers the November question.