Hand-Slaughtered Halal Chicken

For over 27 years, Cericola Farms processed certified, hand-slaughtered halal chicken at its facilities in Ontario and Quebec. Here is how the programme worked, who certified it, and how to find certified halal chicken near Bradford today.

A young white meat chicken walking through green grass — Photo by Erwin Bosman on Unsplash

Our halal programme

Hand slaughtered. Every bird in the programme was slaughtered by hand, in accordance with Islamic jurisprudence.
Independently certified. The Halal Monitoring Authority (HMA) certified the programme first, and the Canadian Halal Food Certifying Agency (CHFCA) certified it from then until the operations were sold.
Inspected as a whole system. The process was inspected and evaluated as one system, supporting a consistent approach to halal claims in the Canadian marketplace, so shoppers had the information they needed to choose.
For every kind of customer. With a growing and diverse group of consumers, we offered halal products to customers of every size, from independent butcher shops to large grocery chains.

Reading a halal label in Canada

The federal government does not certify food as halal; independent organisations do, each with its own published standard. Under the food labelling rules enforced by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, a halal claim on meat must name the organisation that certified it.

So look for the certifier’s name or mark on the package. If you want to know exactly what was permitted, such as stunning or machine slaughter, look up that body’s standard. Our guide What does it mean when chicken is labelled halal? explains hand slaughter, stunning and the label in detail.

Where to buy halal chicken near Bradford

Ask your butcher which body certifies their halal chicken, then check it. Both certifiers that worked with Cericola list the businesses they certify:

HMA certified outlets: stores, butchers and restaurants.
CHFCA certified businesses.

For farms, markets and butchers close to home, the Simcoe County Farm Fresh and York Farm Fresh guides cover Simcoe County and York Region.

Cericola Farms’ halal chicken

Our facilities in Ontario and Quebec offered a variety of certified halal chicken products for over 27 years.
Those products are no longer available. Cericola Farms’ plants have been part of Maple Leaf Foods since 2018 and 2021.