It may not have intended to, but a national halal certification agency recently put a Houston-area grocer on blast. Now the business wants to clarify what occurred as its viability could hang in the balance.
On Aug. 14, Halal Monitoring Services announced on social media and its website a “certification cancellation notice” for Saffron Arabic-Indo-Pak Halal Meat & Grocery at 4020 FM 1463 in Fulshear. According to HMS’ website, Saffron did not want to continue selling HMS certified products.
Halal refers to actions, behaviors and objects “permissible” or “lawful” under Islamic law. For food, there are specific rules that pertain to what kinds of meat are allowed for consumption and how it can be slaughtered, the latter collectively known as zabiha.
Some Houston restaurant operators noted using suppliers who issue zabiha halal certificates. Organizations, like the non-profit HMS, go a step further by inspecting the entire supply chain, including retailers and processors. It’s an added level of authenticity for some businesses.
To some, it would’ve appeared that HMS had suspended Saffron’s certificate, meaning it received a violation for, say, selling non-halal-certified products. That same week the group announced the suspension of Texas King Meat Shop & Restaurant in Irving, saying the business was using “non-certified” meat and poultry. Both notices on social media looked similar, save for the bold red ink announcing one was a cancellation and the other a suspension.
HMS and Texas King did not respond to Chron’s requests for comment. A representative for Saffron, in an email to Chron, confirmed the restaurant had voluntarily surrendered its certification and said it was purely a business decision.
“We found that we were missing out on a significant amount of regular business by limiting ourselves exclusively to hand-cut halal meat,” the representative wrote. “Additionally, the cost of hand-cut halal chicken is nearly three times higher than conventional chicken, which made it difficult for us to remain competitive.”
It’s important to note that a business forgoing or losing its HMS certification isn’t necessarily forgoing serving halal food; it only means that it didn’t meet HMS’ requirements. Many Houston businesses, including Aga’s Restaurant & Catering and Himalaya for example, don’t use HMS at all yet still serve halal products.
A commenter on HMS’ Facebook post noted the way that HMS announces these changes on social media could be misinterpreted by the public at large.
“HMS has every right to enforce its own standards, but ‘not HMS-certified’ does not automatically mean ‘not halal’,” the commenter wrote. “A public cancellation notice asking people across Houston to share it risks creating exactly that impression. That distinction should be made clear.”
The interaction is somewhat reminiscent of what happened last year to Genesis Steakhouse & Wine Bar (now Exodus Bar and Grill) in Houston’s Meyerland section when it ran afoul of the Houston Kashrut Association. Without warning, HKA announced that Genesis was no longer under its supervision, putting its kosher status in question in the community.