**1. H. alal Meat Products and Regulations in Europe ¯**

Today Muslim people constitute about 25% of the population in the world and this is expected to increase further; the size of the global h. alal market could reach around \$2.6 trillion [ ¯ 1,2]. Muslims are projected to increase as a share of Europe's population. The share of Muslims in Europe's population as of 2050 would be depending on three possible future migration scenarios: it would be expected to be somewhere among 7.4% (zero migration) or between 11.2% ("regular" migration) and 14% (high migration) [3].

The halal food market is a considerable economic opportunity for agro-food enterprises. ¯ The migratory flows and the substantial rise of the Muslim population in Europe not only affects the socio-cultural aspects but also from an economic point of view, regarding foodstuffs and other products (drugs, cosmetics, etc.) that must be permissible (h. alal) to Muslims consumers, following ¯ specific religious laws [4–8]. Malaysia has been the first country in the world to establish h. alal -related ¯ laws [9]; it has a documented and systematic h. alal assurance system; besides conventional legal texts, ¯ *fatwa* is a legal opinion issued by Islamic scholars based on interpretation and adaptation of verses from Koran and *Ahadith* [10].

Traditional h. alal meat products can be processed in five di ¯ fferent ways: salted and/or marinated but not dried, dried not fermented, fermented semidry/dried, smoked, cooked and/or candied [8].

The production and consumption of h. alal meat products, as well as ¯ h. alal salami, obtained through ¯ Islamic slaughter rites, have been growing steadily in Europe over recent decades and even the food safety legislation had to consider religious slaughter practices to avoid conflicts [11]. Salami is one of the most representative dry meat products of Mediterranean countries; it involves long ripening periods, with different final quality due, most of all, to their different compositions as the variable ratio of meat and fat, autochthonous or selected microbiota, additives and ingredients, all of them representative of risks to H. alal assurance [ ¯ 12,13]. Figure 1 depicts the most important issues to be considered when h. alal salami products are produced (Figure ¯ 1).

**Figure 1.** Main issues regarding the quality and authenticity of halal salami.

The European Union law on slaughter imposes stunning of the animal (applied through electrical, mechanical or gaseous means) before slaughtering, with the exception of ritual slaughter (Regulation EC n. 1099/2009) [14]; for this reason it is important to involve Islamic scholars in the research to enable stakeholders in the meat industry to make decisions regarding the aspects of pre-slaughter stunning [15].

Another aspect that needs to be taken into account is the effect of halal bleeding on meat quality and animal welfare. Aghwan et al. [16] reported that an efficient bleeding process after h. alal slaughter ¯ not only maintains the quality and wholesomeness of meat but also potentially reduces suffering and pain of animals.

According to the most recent data, it is estimated that about 26 million of Muslims and 1.1 million of Jews live in EU [3], therefore, the number of ritual-slaughtered animals is rather high in Member States [17,18], and this fact requires the particular attention of the Institutions. For example, recently, the General Advocate of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) affirmed that stating that ritual slaughter is incompatible with organic farming this would mean "adding a condition not provided for by current legislation", while consumers of kosher or h. alal products have the right to benefit from the guarantees ¯ provided by products labelled "organic farming" in terms of food quality and safety [19].

In Table 1, the rules providing the regulation of h. alal foods in Europe are collected. In the present ¯ review, the considered rules are those related to safety, hygiene, and quality aspects of h. alal salami and ¯ other meat products.


**Table 1.** Rules providing the regulation of h. alal foods in Europe. ¯
