How to Find Halal Meat in the UK: The Oval Code Explained

When you pick up a pack of chicken, lamb, or beef from a UK supermarket, there’s a small oval stamp printed somewhere on the packaging. Most shoppers ignore it. For Muslim consumers, it can be one of the most useful pieces of information on the entire label.

This guide explains what that stamp means, how to read it, and how to use it to make a more informed decision about whether the meat is halal.

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What is the oval code?

The oval stamp — officially called an establishment health mark — is a legal requirement for all meat sold in Great Britain. It identifies the FSA-approved slaughterhouse or processing plant where the animal was killed and processed.

The format is:

GB [number]

where GB is the country code (Great Britain) and the number is the unique identifier for that facility. Establishments in Northern Ireland use NI instead.

You’ll usually find it:

• Printed directly on the outer plastic wrap
• On a small white label on the base or back of the pack
• Sometimes embossed into vacuum-packed products

The number is what matters. “GB 4227” means establishment number 4227. That number maps to a specific building, company, and set of practices.

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Why does it matter for halal?

All FSA-registered slaughterhouses are required to follow UK food safety law — but halal slaughter goes beyond food safety. It requires:

1. The animal to be alive and healthy at the time of slaughter
2. The name of Allah to be recited (Tasmiyah / Bismillah)
3. A swift, single cut to the throat severing the jugular, carotid, and windpipe
4. Full drainage of blood

UK law permits religious slaughter without pre-stunning for certified religious communities, but many mainstream slaughterhouses use stunning regardless. The oval code lets you trace the meat back to the facility and check its certification status.

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The three statuses explained

When you look up an oval code, you’ll see one of three results:

✅ HMC Certified — Halal

The slaughterhouse appears in the HMC (Halal Monitoring Committee) certified supplier list. HMC is one of the UK’s strictest halal certification bodies: they require hand slaughter without stunning and maintain continuous on-site monitoring.

There are currently 6 HMC-certified slaughterhouses in England and Wales — all independently verified and updated monthly.

❌ Handles Pork — Not Halal

The FSA register shows this facility processes porcine (pig) products. Cross-contamination risk aside, any facility slaughtering pigs alongside other animals is not suitable for halal meat by any standard.

❓ Not HMC Certified

The facility has no pork handling recorded with the FSA, but does not appear in the HMC certified list. This does not mean the meat is haram.

Many of these slaughterhouses hold certification from other recognised bodies, including:

• HFA (Halal Food Authority) — the largest UK halal certifier, widely used by major supermarkets
• AHFIS — Awqaf & Islamic Affairs, Dubai-based but accepted by many UK retailers
• Local mosque committees and imams

We currently only cross-reference HMC data. If an establishment shows as “Not HMC Certified”, always check the pack for a certification logo or contact the producer directly.

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HMC vs HFA: which is stricter?

This is one of the most common questions in the UK Muslim community.

	HMC	HFA
Stunning	Not permitted	Permitted under conditions
Monitoring	Continuous on-site	Periodic inspection
Widely used by	Independent halal butchers, specialist retailers	Major supermarkets (Tesco, Asda, etc.)
Scale	Smaller network	Larger network

Neither certifier is universally accepted by all scholars. The majority of UK scholars consider HFA-certified meat permissible. A smaller but significant group insists on HMC or similar hand-slaughter-only standards.

Which standard you follow is a personal and scholarly matter. What matters is that you have enough information to make the right choice for yourself.

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How to look up a meat code

1. Pick up the pack and look for the oval stamp — usually on the back, base, or side label
2. Note the number (e.g. “4227”)
3. Type it into any search bar on HalalCodeCheck — from the homepage or the E-code database page
4. Or visit halalcodecheck.com/meat-code/ and browse the full list

You don’t need to type “GB” — just the number.

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What about “May be produced alongside non-halal”?

Some halal-labelled products carry a warning like “Produced in a factory that also handles non-halal meat.” This refers to the processing or packaging plant, not the slaughterhouse. It’s a separate issue from the oval code.

If the slaughterhouse oval code checks out and the product carries a valid certification logo, most scholars consider the “may be produced alongside” warning a minor risk that can be accepted, provided there are no shared cutting tools or surfaces touching haram products. When in doubt, contact the certifier directly.

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Practical tips for halal meat shopping

• Look for the logo first. An HMC or HFA logo is the clearest signal. The oval code is a second layer of verification.
• Don’t rely on the brand name alone. “Halal Butcher” on a brand name is not a certification.
• Poultry is harder. Most UK supermarket chicken is stunned. HMC-certified poultry slaughterhouses are rare — Shafa Farm Limited (GB 4015) in Warwickshire is one of the few.
• Lamb and mutton are easier. A higher proportion of lamb sold in UK supermarkets comes through halal channels due to demand patterns.
• Frozen meat retains the stamp. The oval code is usually visible even on frozen packs — check before defrosting.

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How we verify the data

Our meat code database is built from two public sources:

• FSA Approved Establishments register (monthly, England & Wales) — lists every legally registered slaughterhouse, their address, species handled, and whether they process pork
• HMC Certified Supplier List (monthly PDF from halalhmc.org) — the official list of HMC-certified meat suppliers

We cross-reference both monthly. A facility is marked halal only if it appears in the HMC list. Pork handlers are marked haram. Everything else is marked not HMC certified — honest rather than overstated.

Use the Meat Code Lookup to search by number, or browse by certification status.