AVS À Votre Service
AVS is a French halal certifier for meat. It refuses to authenticate meat from stunned animals, and it bans itself, its staff and its members from any commercial activity in meat.
What the mark looks like
The AVS mark is registered with INPI, the French industrial property office, specifically to prevent counterfeiting. The authentication equipment is personalised, renewed, and kept in the possession of AVS controllers rather than left with the producer.
What they certify, and what they do not
- Meat, through butchers and restaurants under contract with AVS
- Brands under an exclusivity contract, which obliges the manufacturer to have every product sold under that brand certified by AVS
- Production and processing sites, with controllers present permanently rather than by visit
- Approval is free for butchers, so a shop does not buy the mark
Where they stand on the two disputed questions
- Stunning
- Not permitted
- Machine slaughter
- Not published
- Covers
- Meat only
How to check a certificate is genuine
- Use the AVS app, on the App Store and Google Play, which lists approved butchers and restaurants in metropolitan France
- Search for an approved business on avs.fr
- Read the AVS charter, which states the stunning refusal and the conflict-of-interest rule directly
Bottom line
AVS is strict and unusually careful about conflicts of interest: it forbids itself, its staff and its members from any commercial activity in meat. It covers meat, and its charter says nothing about machine slaughter, so do not assume a position it has not published.
Last reviewed: 2026-09