The Sweet Taste of Halal: religious slaughter within the institutional discourse community in the UK

This article focuses on the interactional dynamics within the UK institutional discourse community with reference to Muslim religious slaughter. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Muslim Organisations Working Group are observed in their efforts to improve knowledge and awareness of halal slaughter among food and meat industry operators in the UK through the production of ad hoc documents. Firstly, an introduction to halal (etymological, semantic and legal) is provided in order to foreground its relevance as a cultural-religious concept, which must be accommodated within the UK (host) culture. Secondly, two documents are analysed: the Code of Practice for Halal Slaughter and the Guidance Note on Halal Food Issues. The former was drafted by the Muslim Organisations Working Group, it is addressed to meat industry workers and aims at providing standard guidelines for the correct practice of halal slaughter; the latter was drafted by the FSA in order to improve awareness of issues connected to halal slaughter among food law enforcements officers. The analysis will show UK institutions in their commitment to cross-cultural integration and to the popularisation of halal.