HFSAA Certification: What It Means for RNK Foods Packs

What does HFSAA certification mean?

HFSAA certification means an outside body, the Halal Food Standards Alliance of America, has checked that a restaurant or producer uses hand-slaughtered zabiha meat, keeps non-halal items out of the kitchen, and can trace every piece of meat back to an approved source. Ribs 'n' Kabobs has been HFSAA-certified since the restaurant opened in Artesia in 2014, and every RNK Foods pack sold across Southern California is made in that kitchen. This post explains what the standard asks for and what it covers in a frozen pack.

RNK Foods is the frozen-food line of the family behind the Ribs 'n' Kabobs restaurant at 18925 Norwalk Blvd, Artesia, CA 90701. We are not the certifier, so where the detail matters we point you to hfsaa.org, where HFSAA publishes its own standard and the businesses it certifies.

Who is HFSAA?

The Halal Food Standards Alliance of America is a US halal certification body. It is known among Muslim consumers for taking the stricter position on the questions that split the halal market: hand slaughter rather than machine slaughter, a blessing recited over each animal rather than a recording, and a kitchen that is halal throughout rather than halal on one shelf. Families who look for an HFSAA sign in a window are usually looking for exactly that strictness.

What does the HFSAA standard require?

In general terms, and as a home cook would want to hear it:

• Hand slaughter by a Muslim. Each animal is slaughtered by hand by a Muslim who recites the name of God over it. Mechanical slaughter is not accepted.
• No non-halal products in the facility. No pork, no alcohol, and no non-halal meat on site, so there is nothing for halal food to be contaminated by.
• Traceability. Meat must come from suppliers the certifier has approved, and the business must be able to show where each delivery came from.
• Ongoing oversight. Certified businesses are subject to review and audits by the certifier. How often, and in what form, is for HFSAA to describe, and their site is the place to read it.

The point of the standard is that a customer does not have to take the restaurant's word for it. Someone outside the business has looked, and the customer can check the listing.

How does certification work in a restaurant kitchen?

In the Artesia kitchen it comes down to daily habits rather than a certificate on a wall.

Meat arrives only from approved zabiha suppliers, and the paperwork for each delivery is kept. There is no pork and no alcohol anywhere on the premises, so the smoker, the lava rock grill, the fryers and the prep tables never touch anything non-halal. The dine-in menu, from the hickory smoked ribs to the Grandma Recipe Lamb Seekh Kabob, is halal end to end, which is far simpler than trying to keep two standards in one kitchen. The longer version of how the kitchen avoids cross-contamination is in our zero cross-contamination promise.

One sentence worth keeping: Ribs 'n' Kabobs has been HFSAA-certified since the restaurant opened in Artesia in 2014, and it has run as a 100% Zabiha Halal, pork-free, alcohol-free kitchen for that whole time.

What does it mean for RNK Foods frozen packs?

It means there is no gap between the restaurant and the freezer line. RNK Foods products are made in the same certified kitchen, from the same approved meat, by the same people.

RNK Foods product	Meat	Made in
Beef Seekh Kabobs, 1 lb	Hand-slaughtered zabiha beef	HFSAA-certified kitchen, Artesia
Chicken Seekh Kabobs, 1 lb	Hand-slaughtered zabiha chicken	HFSAA-certified kitchen, Artesia
Beef Samosas, pack of 20	Hand-slaughtered zabiha ground beef	HFSAA-certified kitchen, Artesia
Chicken Samosas, pack of 20	Hand-slaughtered zabiha ground chicken	HFSAA-certified kitchen, Artesia
Spicy Potato Veggie Samosas, pack of 20	No meat	HFSAA-certified kitchen, Artesia

So when a pack of Chicken Seekh Kabobs arrives in Irvine or Long Beach, the halal claim behind it is the restaurant's certification, not a separate label we printed ourselves. The veggie samosas carry the same assurance about the kitchen even though they have no meat, which matters to families who want to know a vegetarian item was not fried next to something non-halal.

How can you check for yourself?

1. Look up Ribs 'n' Kabobs on the HFSAA website among the businesses it certifies.
2. Ask at the restaurant counter. The staff will tell you who supplies the meat.
3. Read the FAQs page for the short answers on halal, pickup and delivery.

We would rather you check than trust a blog post. That is what certification is for.

Why does it matter to the family?

The family has made samosas since 1999 and run the Artesia restaurant since 2014, and the halal standard was never a marketing decision. It is how the family eats. Certification just makes it possible for a customer in Anaheim or San Diego who has never met us to know the same thing a neighbor in Cerritos knows from years of visits. Read more about the family on our story page, and see the five products on the menu when you are ready to order for delivery across Southern California or pickup in Artesia.