DAVAO City will be have its own halal slaughterhouse, which is expected to operate this March, an official from the City Economic Enterprise (CEE) bared.
CEE slaughterhouse officer-in-charge Joseph Gabut said the P76-million halal slaughterhouse will operate alongside its modernized meat industry state-of-the-art abattoir in Barangay Malagos, Baguio District.
Gabut said it will be the “first slaughterhouse in the Philippines with complete facilities”.
He said having a separate slaughterhouse for halal products, such as goats, cows, and carabaos, would help legitimize the selling of halal meat to the Muslim community.
Gabut said the slaughterhouse will have a halal-certified inspector, which would ensure that the process of meat-cutting would pass the standards and protocols of the Islamic dietary laws.
“We will have personnel who will be operating our machines, and slaughtering these animals the ‘halal way’,” the CEE official said, adding that certain rituals such as praying over them before the slaughtering activity will be conducted.
The halal slaughterhouse, meanwhile, is housed a 100 meters away from the state-of-the-art abattoir, which is part of CEE’s modernized slaughterhouse.
Gabut said it will have a modern equipment like cutting machines, blast freezers, meat processors, and packaging facilities.
A total of 25 CEE personnel will be deployed in two separate slaughterhouses to facilitate in the operation.
At present, he said it is 70 percent complete.
Meanwhile, he said having this modernized abattoir would discourage meat selling vendors from patronizing illegal slaughterhouses as this would pose health hazards to the consumers.
He also said those slaughterhouses illegally operating can have their meats confiscated.