FREE OF PORK AND OTHER “SPIRITUAL ALLERGENS:” FABRIQUES DÉLICES EARNS HALAL CERTIFICATION

When dnata (Dubai National Air Travel Agency), a high-end inflight catering business, approached Fabriques Delices president and Mill Valley resident Sebastien Espinasse about supplying lamb merguez for its Arabic and other majority-Muslim clients, Espinasse was delighted. He’s always looking for niche markets for Fabriques Delices charcuterie, which is available nationwide and locally at the San Rafael farmers’ market as well as specialty grocers and many Bay Area restaurants.

There was one condition: The merguez would have to be certified halal, meaning an accredited third party has verified the product meets specific Islamic dietary requirements about what is permissible to consume. Chief among them are prohibitions against pork and alcohol, which are both specifically haram, or prohibited. The meat must also come from an animal slaughtered according to halal standards, involving a swift cut to the throat and the draining of all blood while a trained, practicing Muslim recites a blessing. (Although halal also forbids abuse of animals, it does not detail animal welfare standards before slaughter.)

Since the New Zealand lamb that Fabriques Delices was using was already certified halal, and the producer’s merguez sausage recipe contained no alcohol or pork—including the sausage casings, for which pig intestines are sometimes used—it seemed like getting the merguez itself certified should be quick and easy, right?

Alas, no. Their Hayward processing facility produces 2,000 to 4,000 pounds of charcuterie daily, meaning “it’s full of pork and full of wine, top to bottom, front to back,” says James Chambers, chief operating officer of American Halal Foundation (AHF). Both of those ingredients had to be treated as what AHF calls “spiritual allergens,” of which no trace could remain on any grinder, conveyor belt, stuffer, mixer or packager.

And by “no trace,” we’re not talking a quick eyeball for a smear of pork fat or sniffing for a whiff of cognac. AHF looks for the near-complete absence of any organic material before the merguez production, under 40 parts per million as confirmed by a state-of-the-art food safety Adenosine Triphosphate test. (For reference, that’s just slightly more than the 20 parts per million of gluten that the FDA allows for a certified gluten-free product.)

In addition to the usual washing, soaping, brushing and sanitizing that the Fabriques Delices team did at the plant, Chambers had them add a ritual cleanse, called tayamum, at the end, requiring several applications of a clay-and-water mixture. Since clay does not play well with industrial machinery, they used diatomaceous earth, which counts as clay in the Muslim world and also happens to be an excellent cleanser.

Almost a year after starting the process, Fabriques Delices received halal certification for its lamb merguez and has begun supplying dnata’s Muslim clients. Additional certifications for other lamb- or chicken- based charcuterie products may follow.

“It was a challenge, to be sure,” says Espinasse. “It was a different way of thinking, to see pork like an allergen. But my team was up for it.”