Handling sacrificial animals is one aspect of the entire sacrificial process that needs to be considered, especially to avoid stress. Stressed animals can produce poor-quality meat. What should be prepared so that animals do not easily become stressed?
The month of Dzulhijjah has arrived. This month, special worship is performed only once a year, namely the sacrifice worship, which falls on the 10th of Dzulhijjah. The command to sacrifice applies to Muslims who can have excess sustenance and distribute their meat to the poor and needy.
Of course, according to Islam, this good worship needs to be accompanied in a good way. One of the things that is often in the spotlight is the slaughtering process, which must be in accordance with Islamic law. Lecturer at the Faculty of Animal Husbandry, IPB University, Dr. Ir. Henny Nuraini, MSi, explained that the slaughtering process is an activity of killing animals until perfect death is achieved by slaughtering in a way that refers to the principles of animal welfare and Islamic law.
“In this process, there are five requirements that must be met. One of them is that the animal must be halal, alive, and healthy,” said Henny, a senior halal auditor at LPH LPPOM. In this context, how to treat sacrificial animals is one thing that needs to be considered, one of which is to avoid stress in sacrificial animals.
Lecturer at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, IPB University, drh. Supratikno, M.Si., PAvet., said various things could cause this. From a physical aspect, stress can be caused by fatigue or trauma due to long-distance transportation. From a psychological aspect, it can be caused by hunger, pain, heat, and even fear. Fights between livestock can also cause stress. “Stress causes glycogen in the muscles to decrease to very low levels. This causes changes in the biochemical composition of meat. As a result, during slaughter, the quality of the meat becomes DFD (Dark – Firm – Dry) or can be interpreted as poor meat quality,” explained Supratikno.
He continued that in animals with severe acute stress, anaerobic respiration will occur, which produces metabolite waste in the form of lactic acid. Meanwhile, lactic acid that is too high during slaughter or a decrease in pH that is too rapid causes blood to remain in the brain, muscles, and blood vessels to close or become blocked.
“Both of these things cause imperfect blood discharge. The quality of the meat becomes pale, soft, and watery. Meat like this will rot easily and has high cooking losses,” explained Supratikno.
To minimize the level of animal stress, several things related to the slaughter location must be considered, including:
- The slaughter location is a restricted area.
- Only authorized people are allowed to enter the slaughter area.
- Calm conditions are attempted.
- Separated from animal shelters.
- Live animals must not see other animals being slaughtered/having their heads separated.
- New animals may be brought to the slaughterhouse when all officers and equipment are ready.
How? Are you ready to face this blessed moment? Let’s check our readiness to welcome Eid al-Adha again. Every effort we make to seek blessings at this moment will receive multiple rewards from Allah SWT. LPH LPPOM provides various educational suggestions regarding halal slaughter through LPH LPPOM social media, including Youtube and Instagram (YN)
