410 ILCS 637/ Halal Food Act.

(410 ILCS 637/1)

Sec. 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Halal Food Act.

(Source: P.A. 92-394, eff. 1-1-02.)

(410 ILCS 637/5)

Sec. 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Advertise" means to engage in promotional activities including, but not limited to, newspaper, radio, Internet and electronic media, and television advertising; the distribution of fliers and circulars; and the display of window and interior signs.

"Food", "food product", or "food commodity" means any food or food product inspected as required by law, or any food preparation from a source approved by the Department of Agriculture, whether raw or prepared for human consumption, and whether in a solid or liquid state, including, but not limited to, any meat, meat product or meat preparation; any milk, milk product or milk preparation; and any beverage.

"Food commodity in package form" means a food commodity put up or packaged in any manner in advance of sale in units suitable for retail sale and which is not intended for consumption at the point of manufacture.

"Halal" means prepared under and maintained in strict compliance with the laws and customs of the Islamic religion including but not limited to those laws and customs of zabiha/zabeeha (slaughtered according to appropriate Islamic code), and as expressed by reliable recognized Islamic entities and scholars.

(Source: P.A. 92-394, eff. 1-1-02.)

(410 ILCS 637/10)

Sec. 10. Deception prohibited.

(a) It is a Class B misdemeanor for any person to make any oral or written statement that directly or indirectly tends to deceive or otherwise lead a reasonable individual to believe that a non-halal food or food product is halal.

(b) The presence of any non-halal food or food product in any place of business that advertises or represents itself in any manner as selling, offering for sale, preparing, or serving halal food or food products only, is presumptive evidence that the person in possession offers the food or food product for sale in violation of subsection (a).

(c) It shall be a complete defense to a prosecution under subsection (a) that the defendant relied in good faith upon the representations of an animals' farm, slaughterhouse, manufacturer, processor, packer, or distributor, or any person or organization which certifies or represents any food or food product at issue to be halal or as having been prepared under or sanctioned by Islamic religious requirements.

(Source: P.A. 92-394, eff. 1-1-02.)

(410 ILCS 637/15)

Sec. 15. Other offenses concerning halal food. It is a Class B misdemeanor for any person to:

(1) falsely represent any animal sold, grown, or offered for sale to be grown in a halal way to become food for human consumption;

(2) falsely represent any food sold, prepared, served, or offered for sale to be halal;

(3) remove or destroy, or cause to be removed or destroyed, the original means of identification affixed to food commodities to indicate that the food commodities are halal, except that this paragraph (3) may not be construed to prevent the removal of the identification if the commodity is offered for sale as non-halal;

(4) sell, dispose of, or have in his or her possession for the purpose of resale as halal any food commodity to which an animals' farm or slaughterhouse mark, stamp, tag, brand, label, or other means of identification has been fraudulently attached;

(5) label or identify a food commodity in package form to be halal or possess such labels or means of identification, unless he or she is the manufacturer or packer of the food commodity in package form;

(6) label or identify an article of food not in package form to be halal or possess such labels or other means of identification, unless he or she is the manufacturer of the article of food;

(7) falsely label any food commodity in package form as halal by having or permitting to be inscribed on it, in any language, the words "halal" or "helal", or any other words or symbols, not limited to characters in Arabic writing, which would tend to deceive or otherwise lead a reasonable individual to believe that the commodity is halal;

(8) sell, offer for sale, prepare, or serve in or from the same place of business both unpackaged non-halal food and unpackaged food he or she represents to be halal unless he or she posts a window sign at the entrance of his or her establishment which states in block letters at least 4 inches in height: "Halal and Non-Halal Foods Sold Here", or "Halal and Non-Halal Foods Served Here", or a statement of similar import;

(9) sell or have in his or her possession for the purpose of resale as halal any food commodity not having affixed thereto the original animals' farm or slaughterhouse mark, stamp, tag, brand, label, or other means of identification employed to indicate that the food commodity is halal; or

(10) display for sale, in the same show window or other location on or in his or her place of business, both unpackaged food represented to be halal and unpackaged non-halal food unless he or she:

(A) displays over the halal and non-halal food signs that read, in clearly visible block letters, "halal food" and "non-halal food", respectively, or, as to the display of meat alone, "halal meat" and "non-halal meat", respectively;

(B) separates the halal food products from the non-halal food products by keeping the products in separate display cabinets, or by segregating halal items from non-halal items by use of clearly visible dividers; and

(C) slices or otherwise prepares the halal food products for sale with utensils used solely for halal food items.

(Source: P.A. 92-394, eff. 1-1-02.)

(410 ILCS 637/20)

Sec. 20. Federal law. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to exempt halal food from any provisions of the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1978 that may be applicable.

(Source: P.A. 92-394, eff. 1-1-02.)

(410 ILCS 637/90)

Sec. 90. (Amendatory provisions; text omitted).

(Source: P.A. 92-394, eff. 1-1-02; text omitted.)