Halal Kobe Beef

What is Halal?

Halal, often used in reference to food, in Arabic means permissible or lawful. It is food allowed for Muslims to eat under Islamic Law.

There are specific guidelines to the ritual slaughter of an animal. First, it must be alive and the stunning before slaughter is not allowed. A sharp knife is used to cut straight through the throat so to kill the animal instantly all while a Muslim recites a prayer dedicating the slaughter to Allah. Finally, the animal must be hung upside down and bled dry for eating blood is not halal. All facilities and equipment used in slaughter houses and processing plants MUST be halal certified.

As the host for the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Japan has been taking strong measures to better accommodate Muslim visitors. But not only is Muslim tourism growing but the Muslim world is also in demand of halal certified Japanese products. In 2014, Hyogo Prefecture specifically drew a supplementary budget to allocate to both tourism and halal certification to meet these demands.Kobe Shinbun / Feb. 2014

Halal

The halal certification guarantees Muslims and the consumer that nothing in the food has forbidden components also known as Haram. Specifically written in the Holy Qua'ran these include swine/pork based products, carnivorous animals, blood, bodies of dead animals, alcohol, almost all reptiles/insects and animals not properly slaughtered by Islamic law. from Isramic Center of Japan's Web (Japanese)

What is Halal Kobe Beef?

Definition of Kobe Beef

MUST be of pure Tajima Beef lineage [Detail]
As article 20 defines the bull must be "processed at a slaughter house in Hyogo Prefecture."
Must pass a strict grading exam done by Kobe Beef Marketing & Distribution Promotion Association [Link], often involving the quality of meat, Beef Marbling Standard (BMS), and weight limitation.

As mentioned in (2) of Defintion of Kobe Beef, the criteria has now changed to "a halal certified slaughterhouse in Hyogo Pref.,” making it even more difficult to obtain the meat from the Tajima bull that it can truly be called Halal Kobe Beef. It is important for our customers to understand that, for this reason, the amount of Halal Kobe Beef that can be sold is more limited than Kobe Beef itself. That is why we are proud to be the only retailer to sell Halal Kobe Beef at this time.

[Link: About KOBE BEEF Definition]

And only after Halal Certification [mentioned above] is given to the slaughter house and after passing strict Kobe Beef guidelines [mentioned right]; can it finally be called HALAL KOBE BEEF.

Halal Kobe Beef:
The Process from start to finish and the companies involved

The Islamic Center of Japan

ICJ is a legally recognized and registered organization. It is an independent, non-commercial, and non-political organization of Muslims in Japan. Only after strict applicant screening and field survey is certification given by the Halal division of the ICJ. Web site

ESMA, UAE

ESMA is the Halal certification body of UAE. With the purpose of exporting Halal Japanese Beef to UAE and the other Middle East countries, Sanda meat corp had been inspected by ESMA, and approved as the 4th Halal Slaughterhouse in Japan on JAN/2016. Web site

Sanda Meat Corp.
Slaughter House

Sanda Meat Corp., under halal guidelines and certification, are responsible for all slaughtering of our Tajima bulls, which becomes what the world knows as Kobe Beef. At the present time, Sanda Meat Corp. is the only slaughterhouse in Hyogo pref. to have halal certification.

2014/Aug/14｜Halal Certification by ICJ acquired
2014/Oct/09｜ISO22000:2005 acquired
2016/Jan/18｜Halal Certification by ESMA, UAE acquired

OS Meat Co.

OS Meat, under halal guidelines and certification, are responsible for all cutting, packaging, and manufacturing process. On January of 2015, OS Meat, opened their new halal processing plant inside Sanda Meat Corp.. They commissioned Tajimaya Momoyamadai, with permission from the ICJ, to process and pack in the finishing step of current stock.

2014/Aug/14｜Halal Certification acquired

TATSUYA Co., Ltd.

TATSUYA has been specializing in Kobe Beef for a little over a hundred years and we are very proud to still call Kobe our home. Online ordering has become the norm these days but TATSUYA has been there from the very start. We were the few butcher shops in Japan to sell high quality Kobe Beef online since early 90's; because of this, our long history, experience in Kobe Beef, and most importantly trust from our customers was the reason why we were specifically chosen to be the first ever butcher shop to sell Halal Kobe Beef.

Concerning all orders of Halal Kobe Beef through TATSUYA

All orders will include:


Kobe Beef Certificate of Guarantee	Halal Certificate of Guarantee	Seal 'with the Halal logo' of Approval

Quality Standard

Packaged frozen. Then stored in a completely separate freezer from all non-Halal products.
PLEASE BE AWARE: Although we are a butcher shop we do not handle the processing concerning our Halal Kobe Beef. All comes packaged and ready to sell from our contracted processing plant.
We attach "Halal National Mark" issued by ESMA of the United Arab Emirates to each products
Current stock being sold:
Date of Expiration APR/2018 ( partly SEP/2017 ) (under -18゜C)
These Kobe Beef were NOT fed beer or any alcohol-related feed.