The concept of halal slaughtering includes the following elements: Bleeding starts with the name of God, using a sharp blade for cutting, cutting of at least one of the main vessels and Vascular Jugularis and Arteria Carotis Communis, and exhaustion of blood from the body. In this method, no stunning is performed on live animal before cutting and direct-cutting is applied ².

Beta-endorphin hormone is one of the important members of the body-produced (endogenous) opioid peptides. It is evaluated as an answer to the stress by it’s painkiller feature ^3-7. Beta-endorphin interacts with the hormonal system and other systems to perform modulator functions ^6,7.

Beta-endorphin acts as a central pain-killer, with pain relief up to 20-33 times greater than morphine; gravimetric strength is about 50 times higher than morphine ^6,7. Beta-endorphin is synthesized from a macro peptide containing 285 amino acids, proopiomelanocortin, especially in the brain and spinal fluid cells. Beta-endorphin is secreted along with ACTH from cells in the anterior pituitary ^8,9.

Beta-endorphin is also considered as a physiological parameter in determining animal welfare, which expresses the physical and mental health and well-being of animals in adverse environmental or management systems due to their ability to reduce pain ^10,11. In spite of all these, there are very few studies on animal slaughter - pain relations in the literature.

In a study of beta-endorphin levels as stress indicator, the reseacrchers found no statistically significant difference in beta-endorphin levels before and after cutting with the stunning method ¹⁰. In another study, it was investigated the sustained beta-endorphin levels in animals in a study using a gun-stunning method in the horse; they did not find any significant difference in beta-endorphin levels before and after slaughtering ¹².

In this study, it was aimed to determine the changes of beta-endorphin levels secreted by the body as a response to the stress and before, during and after the halal slaughter that the findings are aimed at shedding light on the debate on slaughtering methods.

Blood Samples: Blood samples were taken 20 min before cutting from the jugular vein (Group 1), during slaughter, from the flowing blood (Group 2) and 3 min after slaughter from flowing blood of head, 3 minutes after slaughter (Group 3) to anticoagulant free tubes in 10 ml volume. Blood samples were centrifuged at room temperature for 5 minutes at 3000 rpm and stored at -20 ° C until tested.

Beta-endorphin Analysis: The commercial ELISA kit (CSB-E13051B, Cusabio, MD, USA) was used to measure blood serum Beta-endorphin values. The manufacturer's standard values were used to calculate serum beta-endorphin levels from the optical density (OD) values obtained from the ELISA assay (46.88 pg/mL to 3000 pg/mL).

Statistical Aanalysis: All results are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD). Statistical significance was determined using ANOVA with Bonferroni test as post-hoc calculation. A “P” value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The procedure was approved by Harran University, Local Ethics Committee for Animal Experiment (23/10/2017 - 2017/006-01-10).

Büyütmek İçin Tıklayın

Figure 1: Beta-endorphin levels before, time and after slaughtering in cows with halal slaughtering method.

Although there are many studies on animal-pain association in various cutting methods, only a few studies on beta-endorphin, which is a potent painkiller. In a study ¹⁰ on pre-slaughter and post-slaughter beta endorphin levels in calves, the researchers reported no significant difference between beta-endorphin levels. In our study, beta endorphin levels increased during bleeding (Group 2) compared to before bleeding (Group 1) and 3 min after slaughter (Group 3) showed a statistically significant increase in (Figure 1). In terms of the change in beta-endorphin levels, the difference between our study and this study may depend on the cutting methods. We think that stunning methods applied in the European Union (EU) may have triggered in low level of beta-endorphin induction in animals and therefore beta-endorphin release was at a low level after slaughter.

In a study ¹² conducted by horse-knocking methods in the horses, beta-endorphin levels were examined in animals before and after slaughter. They did not find any significant difference in beta-endorphin levels before and after slaughtering. As a matter of fact, we think that this may be related to the destruction of the brain through weapon or electroshock applications before cutting. On the halal side, we think of the increase in beta-endorphin level in all animals after and during slaughter, as a sign that this hormone released regularly by the brain after slaughter.

Generally in livestock slaughter; halal slaughter method is applied in Turkey, where as stunning percussion pistol, concussion, electronarcosis, or exposing to carbon dioxide methods are applied in the EU countries. With the entry of Turkey's to EU membership, according to the EU acquis, it is necessary to comply with the EU slaughter method. This situation will be an important trouble for Turkey, as a country that majority is Muslim population. This situation is also causing serious problems for the Muslim population living in EU countries. While it is claimed by the EU that halal slaughter is not suitable for animal welfare and that animals suffer from pain, our study proved with molecular biological method that halal slaughter is the most appropriate method for animal welfare with minimal pain. For the first time with our work, we are presenting scientific proof against unjustified accusations about halal slaughter by EU due to the lack of incomplete data.

As a conclusion, halal slaughter provides animals are relieved relief through beta-endorphin reaction rather than pain. Halal slaughter contributes to animal welfare in terms of less suffering.

1) Antalyalı A. Avrupa Birliği ve Türkiye’de Hayvan Refahı Uygulamaları. AB Uzmanlık Tezi, Ankara: Avrupa Birliği ve Diş İlişkiler Genel Müdürlüğü, 2007.

2) Nakyinsige K, Che Man YB, Zeiad AA, et al. Stunning and animal welfare from Islamic and scientific perspectives. Meat Sci 2013; 95: 352-361.

3) Nanda AS, Dobson H, Ward WR, Opioid modulation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis in dairy cows. Domest Anim Endocrinol 1992; 9:181-186.

4) Shaw FD, Tume RK, The assessment of pre-slaughter and slaughter treatments of livestock by measurement of plasma constituents. Meat Sci 1992; 32:329-331.

5) Şanlı Y, Veteriner Klinik Farmakoloji. 3. Baskı, İstanbul: Özkan Matbaacılık, 1999.

6) Kayaalp O. Tıbbi Farmakoloji. 12. Baskı, Ankara: Pelikan Yayıncılık, 2009.

7) Akalın PP, Başpınar N, Bucak MN, et al. Hayvanlarda beta-endorfinin üreme sistemi ile ilişkisi. Journal of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Erciyes University 2011; 8: 53-61.

8) Jevremovic M, Terzic M, Kartaljevic G, et al. The determination of immunoreactive beta–endorphin concentration in the human fetal and neonatal thymus. Horm Metab Res 1991; 23: 623-624.

9) Angelogianni P, Li HL, Gianoulakis C, Ontogenesis of proopiomelanocortin and its processing to ßendorphin by the fetal and neonatal rat brain. Neuroendocrinology 2000; 72: 231-241.

10) Micera E, Dimatteo S, Grimaldi M, et al. Stress indicators in steers at slaughtering. Ital J Anim Sci 2007; 6: 457-459.

11) Dereli Fidan E, Welfare Applications Related to Livestocks in Turkey. Animal Health, Production and Hygene 2012; 1: 39-46.

12) Micera E, Albrizio M, Surdo NC, et al. Stress-related hormones in horses before and after stunning by captive bolt gun. Meat Sci 2010; 84: 634-637.

13) Tume RK, Shaw FD, Beta-endorphin and cortisol concentrations in plasma of blood samples collected during exsanguination of cattle. Meat Sci 1992; 31: 211-217.

14) Djurović D, Milić-Askrabić J, Majkić-Singh N, Serum beta-endorphin level in patients with depression on fluvoxamine. Farmaco1999; 54: 130-133.