Halal vs. Kosher: How the Two Dietary Laws Compare on Slaughter, Alcohol, Seafood and Certification

Halal and kosher are the dietary laws of Islam and Judaism. Both forbid pork and blood and require animals to be slaughtered by a qualified person with a single cut to the throat. They differ on alcohol, which halal forbids and kosher allows; on mixing meat and dairy, which kosher forbids; on shellfish; and on who may slaughter and certify.

This article was first published in May 2021. It has been updated with a side-by-side comparison table, the Quranic basis for Muslims eating food of Jews and Christians, current European court rulings on slaughter without stunning, and corrections to the description of kosher slaughter.

Reviewed by Hafiz Maqsood Ahmed.

The comparison matters well beyond religious communities. Food companies often seek both certifications to sell the same product to Muslim and Jewish shoppers, and regulators in Europe treat the two slaughter methods together. Muslim consumers alone spent $1.53 trillion on food and drink in 2024, according to the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2025/26, produced by DinarStandard.

Halal is an Arabic word meaning “permissible.” Its rules come from the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), as set out in our guide to the Quran and hadith on halal. Kosher comes from the Hebrew “kasher,” meaning “fit” or “proper,” and its rules, known as kashrut, come from the Torah, chiefly Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, and from rabbinic law.

Halal and kosher compared

Slaughter

Both traditions require that a permitted animal be alive and healthy and be killed with a swift cut across the throat using a sharp knife, so that blood drains from the body. In Islamic law, the slaughterer pronounces God’s name, and most scholars require the windpipe, food pipe and major blood vessels to be cut. In Jewish law, the slaughter, called shechita, is performed by a shochet trained in the rules, who inspects the knife before and after each cut and the animal’s organs afterward for defects that would make it unfit.

Stunning is where the two diverge most in practice. Jewish law does not permit stunning before shechita. Halal certifiers are split: some accept stunning methods that do not kill the animal before the cut, while others reject stunning altogether. Our article on the debate over halal slaughter looks at the welfare arguments on both sides.

That debate has reached Europe’s highest courts. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on Dec. 17, 2020, that member states may require animals to be stunned before religious slaughter, in a case brought against a ban in Flanders, Belgium. The European Court of Human Rights upheld Belgium’s regional bans on Feb. 13, 2024, in Executief van de Moslims van België and Others v. Belgium. Both rulings affect halal and kosher producers alike.

Can Muslims eat kosher food?

Many Muslim scholars say yes, at least for meat slaughtered by Jews, based on a verse that makes the food of the People of the Book lawful for Muslims:

ٱلْيَوْمَ أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ ٱلطَّيِّبَـٰتُ ۖ وَطَعَامُ ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ حِلٌّ لَّكُمْ وَطَعَامُكُمْ حِلٌّ لَّهُمْ

“This day [all] good foods have been made lawful, and the food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them.” (opening of the verse) (Surah Al-Ma’idah (5), Verse 5)

Other scholars apply conditions. Some require that God’s name be pronounced over each animal, which kosher practice does not do. Others note that kosher wine, and foods cooked with it, remain forbidden to Muslims. Our explainer on whether Muslims can eat kosher food sets out the positions in detail. The Halal Times does not issue religious rulings; readers should consult a qualified scholar on their own practice.

Observant Jews, for their part, generally do not treat halal meat as kosher, because it is not slaughtered and inspected by a shochet and is not salted to remove blood.

Can a product be both halal and kosher?

Yes. Products without meat or alcohol, such as many snacks, oils, grains and some dairy products, can be certified by both a halal and a kosher body. Each certifier checks the ingredients and the plant separately, and the product carries both marks. Gelatin, enzymes and flavorings are the usual sticking points, because each body has its own rules on their sources. Meat that satisfies both is rare in practice, because each system requires its own slaughterer and supervision. We look at these overlaps in our piece on whether halal food can be kosher.

Health and safety claims

Neither dietary law was designed as a food-safety system, and neither guarantees that a product is healthier. Certification bodies audit ingredients and processes for religious compliance, while food safety remains the job of national regulators. Claims that halal or kosher meat is inherently safer should be treated with caution unless backed by evidence.

Related reading: Does Halal Mean Healthier?