How to tell if a restaurant is really halal

HFSAA puts it plainly: "If a company is not listed, then it is not certified." HMS, HFSAA, HMA and HMC all publish lists of the restaurants they certify, and Muzzmi re-reads those lists every week. A place marked certified zabiha on Muzzmi links to its entry.

Check three things: the date, the name on it, and what it covers. HMC advises reading the list of certified items on the certificate, since it may not cover the whole menu. In 2024 CBC Marketplace found staff at six of 10 fast food locations in the Toronto area claimed the whole restaurant was certified when none was. They showed the meat supplier's certificate, and some certificates had expired, one by eight years.

Ask which supplier the meat comes from and whether it is hand or machine slaughtered. Ask whether pork or alcohol is served and how it is kept apart. If staff are unsure, that is an answer too. Certifiers like HMS and HMA run unannounced inspections that check invoices, stock and storage, which a restaurant without a certifier does not have.

In Canada, a halal claim must name the body that certified it. Several US states have halal food laws, including New Jersey, Illinois, California, Michigan, Minnesota and Texas. Illinois requires halal sellers, restaurants included, to register and name their certifier, and New Jersey requires a posted disclosure.

Every place on Muzzmi shows its halal status and the evidence behind it: certified zabiha, hand slaughtered (claimed), halal (claimed), partially halal or unverified. Find halal food by city, or check a chain on Is it halal?.