Halal certification in Europe bodies. According to the Halal Food Authority (HFA) in the UK, poultry (chickens, turkeys and ducks) can only be "immobilised" prior to slaughter using electric water baths, while ovine animals (lamb, sheep and goat) can only be stunned using electric tongs. The majority of bovine animals (cattle, bull, cow and ox) in the UK are stunned with a captive-bolt pistol, but this is not permitted by the HFA because of the risk that it may kill the animal. The second position, which emerges from a derogation of the above legislation, allows EU member states to grant slaughterhouses that supply Muslim
Animal slaughter animal unconscious, and thus not susceptible to pain, but not necessarily dead. In the second stage, the animal is killed, usually by slitting its throat and allowing the blood to drain. Countries differ in the methods which have been legalised for different species or different ages, some regulations being governmental, others being religious. Various methods are used to render an animal unconscious during animal slaughter. The measures for sanitary checks, animal welfare protection and slaughtering procedures are harmonised throughout the European Union, and detailed by the European Commissions' regulations CE 853/2004, 854/2004 and 1099/2009. In Canada, the handling and slaughter