Social definitions of halal quality : the case of Maghrebi Muslims in France
Résumé
One can imagine that in France in the near future the role of the ‘sacrificateur', that certain imams prefer to call ‘executant' and who is in some poultry slaughterhouses simply replaced by a machine, will be less and less technical and more concerned with controls to confirm that the slaughtering chain is not polluted by some haram substance in the slaughterhouse, and that the labels do not mislead the final consumer. With the generalisation of labelling, the consumer will be put in the position of ultimate controller, which should lead the retailers to ingenious marketing methods in order to attract a clientele that will no doubt become more and more sceptical and even distrustful. So far, no fixed definition of the quality halal has been successfully imposed, which has probably helped the market to grow with an energy that was certainly not expected twenty years ago when halal food was predicted to disappear with the second generation.