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Halal Community Council
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HCC is getting ready to open. No place has been checked yet, and no seal has been issued. These pages describe how HCC's checks will work.

Guide ยท On the wall

Reading a halal certificate

A certificate is a certifying body's statement about what it certified, for a stated period. Read it closely: who issued it, who and what it covers, and until when.

From the evidence rules in the HCC Standard, Version 1, section 5, which HCC's checkers follow on every check

The parts to look for

Certificates look different from one certifier to the next, but most carry the same parts. These are the ones that matter.

Certifier
The full name of the body that issued it, and how to reach it.
Certificate number
Lets you look it up, where the certifier offers a lookup.
Holder
The company the certificate was issued to.
Facility
The plant or place it covers, with its address.
Scope
The products, product lines or operations it covers.
Issued
The date it was issued.
Valid through
The date it ends. After that, it is not current.
Method
Sometimes stated: hand or machine slaughter, stunned or not.

Who issued it

Look for the certifier's full name and contact details. A logo, initials or a general statement without a name is hard to trace, and some laws ask for the full name: Canada requires the certifier's name on any halal claim, and New York requires every halal advertisement to name the person or body certifying the food.

Then find the certifier's own public list. Many certifiers publish the companies, plants or places they certify, and some offer a lookup by certificate number or a code printed on the certificate. Certifiers and their public lists.

Who it covers

Read the holder's name and the facility address. At a restaurant, the certificate on the wall often belongs to a supplier: a slaughter plant, a processor or a distributor. That is common, and it is useful. It tells you about that supplier's product. It does not tell you about the restaurant's own kitchen.

Ask yourself: does the name match this place, or the supplier the staff named when you asked where the meat comes from?

What it covers

A genuine certificate can still cover something other than the food in front of you. Some cover one plant, some one product line, some a list of named products. A certificate for a different plant, product or company than the one you are buying from tells you nothing about this one. HCC's checkers never count it as evidence.

The dates

Check the valid-through date first. An expired certificate is not current, and HCC never counts one. Every certificate has an end date, so a place relying on one should be able to show the current copy.

At HCC's Keystone level, HCC checks every supplier certificate each month, and asks for the new one when a certificate is within 30 days of expiring.

The method, if stated

Some certificates state how the animals were slaughtered: by hand or by machine, stunned or not stunned. Many do not. When a certificate states the method, an HCC record reports it as a fact HCC saw on the document. HCC does not rule on which methods are acceptable. That is for you and the scholars you trust.

Plant numbers and plant statements

  • Establishment numbers. Inspected meat and poultry carries a USDA or state mark of inspection with an establishment number, printed on the box or label. HCC's checkers match that number to the plant named on the certificate and to the invoices. A customer rarely sees the box, but you can ask which plant the meat comes from.
  • Plant statements. Some slaughter plants issue their own signed halal statement naming the person or body that supervises slaughter and the method used, without a certificate from a certifying body. It is a statement, not a certificate, and a record says which one it is.
  • Exempt poultry. Some poultry is slaughtered under a federal religious exemption (9 CFR 381.11). Its approved label names the clerical official under whose supervision the poultry was slaughtered.

How to confirm it

  1. Find the certifier's own list or lookup

    Start from the certifier's own website, not from a link or a copy someone sent you. Our list links to each one.

  2. Search for the holder or the number

    Look for the company, the facility and the product, or the certificate number. Check that the listing is current.

  3. If there is no list, ask the certifier

    Write to the certifier with the certificate number and the holder's name. This is what HCC does for every certificate on a check where no public list exists.

When to look closer

These are the things HCC's Standard says never count as evidence on a check. They are worth a second look anywhere.

  • A certificate for a different plant, product or company than the one in question.
  • An expired certificate, or one that cannot be confirmed with the certifier.
  • A photo of a certificate taken from the internet, or a screenshot with no source.
  • A spoken assurance about where the meat comes from, from anyone.
  • A document that has been changed, for example a covered or rewritten date.

Posted forms in some states

In some states you may see a posted form instead of, or next to, a certificate. Each one is the business's own statement of the basis for its halal claim, made on a form the state sets.

New York
A posted halal certification form, filed with the state, naming the certifier.
New Jersey
A posted disclosure statement on the state's form.
Maryland
A posted disclosure statement on the Attorney General's form.
Illinois
A posted Department of Agriculture registration naming the certifying entity.

What each state's law asks for

What a certificate cannot tell you

  • What happens in this kitchen today: whether the halal meat shares a fryer, a grill or utensils with anything that is not halal.
  • Whether the other items on the menu, the sauces or the desserts come from the same source.
  • Whether every delivery since the date on the certificate came from the plant it names.

For those, ask at the counter (five questions) and look up the place on the Register.

Certificates on an HCC record

  • Every record names the halal source the business relies on, its supplier or its certifier, and says whether that source rests on a certificate from a certifying body or on a plant statement.
  • Before a certificate counts, HCC confirms it is real and current, from the certifier's public list or in writing from the certifier.
  • At the Pillar and Keystone levels, every meat, poultry, gelatin and animal fat ingredient in an item in scope must trace to a certificate from a certifying body. A plant statement counts at Cornerstone only.
  • HCC does not rank certifiers. The record names the certifier, so you can decide whether its approach suits you.

Read section 5 of the Standard

Sources

The laws this guide mentions, at their official or standard sources. HCC read them for its research on October 14 and 15, 2026.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. All guides.