Religion, Business, and Global Visions: An Exploration of South Korea’s Discourse on Halal

Driven by economic exigencies, the Korean government began to strategize entering the rapidly expanding Islamic economy during the early 2000s. Subsequently, decisions to invest into the global halal market ignited public opposition from Korean evangelicals who rejected the positive economic framing of halal—an Islamic concept most commonly used to inform Muslim dietary laws. Based on fieldwork in Korea and analysis of Korean media sources, this article tracks the development of this “halal discourse” through a frame analysis of the discourses created by the Korean government, economic actors, and anti-halal evangelicals, and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of their arguments. As these competing voices debated halal’s place in Korean society, the supporters of halal had to respond to evangelical pushback against halal, leading to notable shifts in the public discourse on halal, an issue that was rooted in deeper underlying debates concerning multiculturalism, globalization, and competing visions of Korea.

Deuteronomy 14.3–21: An Early Exemplar of Rewritten Scripture?

The almost verbatim parallels of the dietary laws in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14 have baffled scholars for a long time. We reexamine the evidence, offer a novel approach to determining the direction of dependency, and point out the notable similarities the borrowing bears to Second Temple editorial and redactional practices, drawing on recent Qumran scholarship. We conclude that Deut. 14.3–21 may be one of the earliest specimens of Rewritten Scripture.

Finding Oxford’s medieval Jewry using organic residue analysis, faunal records and historical documents

Food is often one of the most distinctive expressions of social, religious, cultural or ethnic groups. However, the archaeological identification of specific religious dietary practices, including the Jewish tradition of keeping kosher, associated with ritual food practices and taboos, is very rare. This is arguably one of the oldest known diets across the world and, for an observant Jew, maintaining dietary laws (known as Kashruth) is a fundamental part of everyday life. Recent excavations in the early medieval Oxford Jewish quarter yielded a remarkable assemblage of animal bones, marked by a complete absence of pig specimens and a dominance of kosher (permitted) birds, domestic fowl and goose. To our knowledge, this is the first identification of a Jewish dietary signature in British zooarchaeology, which contrasted markedly with the previous Saxon phase where pig bones were present in quantity and bird bones were barely seen. Lipid residue analysis of pottery from St Aldates showed that vessels from the possible Jewish houses were solely used to process ruminant carcass products, with an avoidance of pig product processing, correlating well with the faunal data. In contrast, lipid analysis of pottery from comparative assemblages from the previous Saxon phase at the site and a contemporaneous site in the city, The Queen’s College, shows that the majority of these vessels appear to have been used to process mixtures of both ruminant and non-ruminant (pig) products. Here, the combination of organic residue analysis, site excavation and animal and fish bone evidence was consistent with the presence of Jewish houses in eleventh- and twelfth-century St Aldates, Oxford, hitherto only suspected through documentary information. This is the first identification of specific religious dietary practices using lipid residue analysis, verifying that, at least 800 years ago, medieval Jewish Oxford communities practised dietary laws known as Kashruth.

Dietary Laws about Animals in Semitic Religions: An Analytical Study

سامی ادیان میں جانوروں کی حلت و حرمت کےمتعلق احکامات کا تجزیاتی مطالعہ Dietary rules and regulations may govern particular phases of the human life cycle and may also be associated with special events. Dietary Laws are grounded into the religious thought, and anyone expects logical clarifications for the continuation and determination of these rules in light of the respective religious tradition. The Semitic religions: orthodox Jews, Christians and Muslims have undoubtedly directed their adherents about the foodstuff “meat” with particular terms and conditions. This study attempts to define the similarities and differences between Halal and Kashrut (Kosher) in the light of their religion's commandments. The study confined to the Holy Scriptures. A comparative approach has been applied to these dietary practices. Moreover, it was found that Halal constitutes a different dietary law (Shariah) than Kashrut and vice versa. Even though similarities are found but it does not permit for the statutes to be usually supposed as reflection of each other. This analytical work will provide theoretical orientation; make reference to relevant theoretical and empirical literature for adequate clarification and comprehension where needed. To avoid pointless details, only the verse number mentioned in footnotes and extracted commands are just mentioned in the article. Qualitative research methodology has been adopted about the dietary laws about animals in Semitic Religions.

Religious and Regulatory concerns of animal free meat and milk

Advances in scientific research have fostered cutting edge technologies such as cultured meat and cow less milk as touted by the promoters receiving considerable attention in recent times. The perceived benefits seem promising since, gas emissions, water and land use and animal suffering are reduced considerably as claimed by the proponents. This article aims to provide an overview on the religious and regulatory perspectives of animal less meat and milk. The dietary laws of some major religions are discussed followed by global food regulation and role of codex in emerging technologies. Religious perspectives of Hindus, Christians and Muslims on culture meat has also been discussed in detail. The regulatory status of European Union and United States are presented. In conclusion, consumer acceptance remains the wild card in making any technology grow. However, Innovation and technological progress are very important to shape the future of agriculture and food security and can only be achieved through appropriate support from all stakeholders.

Religious and Regulatory concerns of animal free meat and milk

Advances in scientific research have fostered cutting edge technologies such as cultured meat and cow less milk as touted by the promoters receiving considerable attention in recent times. The perceived benefits seem promising since, gas emissions, water and land use and animal suffering are reduced considerably as claimed by the proponents. This article aims to provide an overview on the religious and regulatory perspectives of animal less meat and milk. The dietary laws of some major religions are discussed followed by global food regulation and role of codex in emerging technologies. Religious perspectives of Hindus, Christians and Muslims on culture meat has also been discussed in detail. The regulatory status of European Union and United States are presented. In conclusion, consumer acceptance remains the wild card in making any technology grow. However, Innovation and technological progress are very important to shape the future of agriculture and food security and can only be achieved through appropriate support from all stakeholders.

Halal food marketing: an evaluation of UK halal standards

Purpose Because of the economic significance of the Halal meat market, many food business operators have started trading in Halal meat products. Some businesses rely solely on the services of Halal certification bodies (HCBs) to assure Halal consumers as to the authenticity of Halal meat products. However, the lack of unified national or global Halal standards has resulted in confusion as to what is authentic Halal. This paper aims to survey HCBs in the UK to highlight the major differences between the various Halal standards with regard to Halal meat production. Design/methodology/approach Out of 15 HCBs that the authors contacted, 9 agreed to participate in the study. Respondents were asked to indicate what slaughter practices are acceptable according to their standard and further indicate if their respective organisations carried out speciation testing to detect the presence of foreign deoxyribonucleic acid in certified Halal products. Findings All nine certifiers indicated that they owned and operated according to a written Halal standard. The majority of certifiers indicated that they accepted pre-slaughter stunning if the stunning did not result in the death of animals prior to exsanguination, a Muslim should perform the slaughter and a short prayer must be recited and only manual (by hand) slaughter is acceptable. Research limitations/implications The findings give an insight into acceptable and prohibited procedures during Halal meat production in the UK. Abattoir operators, meat processors and retailers can use this as a guide when selecting suitable Halal certifiers for their businesses. Originality/value The study reveals that there are a number of HCBs in the UK who are all operating according to the different interpretation of the Halal dietary laws. The paper further highlights the different slaughter procedures that are acceptable and prohibited to different certifiers.