Happy Eid al-Adha! A Guide to Where Not to Buy Halal Meat (NSFV - Not Suitable for Vegetarians)

• News Flash: Turkeys have feathers, and lambs have skulls with eyeballs in them! I shop at Fertile Crescent frequently and often make purchases from the butcher counter, which I have always found to be clean, and if there is an odor it is that of fresh meat. Hearing the store as smelling like rotting flesh, or characterizing it as filth[y] (as in the above comments) strikes me as false --it is far from my experience having shopped there regularly for the past several years, and to say that they do not care about food safety because of lamb carcasses stacked the floor, etc. strikes me as ignorant at best. While this treatment might or might not comply with the letter of whatever NYC food safety ordinance is relevant(probably safe to assume it violates some ordinance), this is fresh lamb that is going to be cooked the same day. I'm having a hard time imagining how this lamb would somehow be unsafe to eat because of the way in which it was displayed, especially as sliced meat is far more susceptible to contamination (the sheath around muscle serves to protect the flesh from contamination). I'd much rather eat meat treated in this way than trust whatever goes on in the back room of most grocery stores.

• Obviously, the store owner and workers don't care about food safety here but PLEASE don't assume that all places that serve halal meat or sell halal meat are like this filth.

• This place is disgusting. I walked in there once to buy some meat and there was a roach on the prep counter. The place smells like a morgue's "decomp" room. Think rotting flesh and wet dog hair. They should be shut down, period.

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