I have come across a halal meat company whom I emailed and who sent me their halal certificate, which was issued to them by the halal certifying organization, Halal Transactions of Omaha. I am satisfied that their halal label has been verified. However, I was looking through the Halal Transactions of Omaha criteria, who certified them and who dictates whether their meats fulfill their requirement for being halal, and according to their fiqh, the slaughterman can be anyone of the people of the book. With this being said, I have two questions:
The first is, can I consider the meat labeled halal from this organization (Halal Transaction of Omaha) to be halal? In other words, if I come across a meat package that states that it is halal and was verified by this organization, can I eat it?
My second question is, I have emailed the company that was verified by the HToO mentioned before, and they said they are Muslim owned and operated and that they only sell halal meats. However, if their fiqh allows for a Christian or Jew to slaughter the animal, would that render their meat questionable for me to eat as their criteria for what is halal is different from ours? Again, in the email they told me they are Muslim owned and operated, so is that enough for me to assume that the slaughterman was also Muslim, or must I verify this further?
If one is content that the seller or provider of the meat is a Muslim who has met the conditions of Islamic slaughtering including the slaughterer being a Muslim, then it is permissible to consume the meat. Otherwise, it is not permissible especially if one knows that the slaughterer is not a Muslim.