Halal Slaughter

• Clear Labelling of Halal Meat
• End of Non Stun Slaughter

Animal Welfare & Halal Slaughter

Try to find out the welfare status of your particular meat supplier & you will soon be as baffled as I am.

I am not against blessing meat in line with religeon. I am however against animal cruelty & causing unnecessary suffering. I am a happy omnivore. If we were meant to be able to live on a vegan diet, we wouldn’t need to top it up with supplements to balance our diet would we?

You would think in modern Britain that labeling non stunned halal meat would not be that difficult, but the issue is more complex than that.

Some Halal meat is stunned, according to the RSPCA (https://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaign/slaughter) 58% of Halal meat in the UK comes from animals that were stunned before slaughter and certified Halal.

This of course means that 42% was not stunned prior to slaughter.

So, we have 4 different basic methods of slaughter in the UK; Kosher, Non Stunned Halal, Stunned Halal and standard stunned slaughter.

How are we supposed to know what we are eating? How can you check what type a restaurant is selling?

Some supermarkets don’t sell any Halal meat, others sell some, apparently labelled as such. I don’t recall ever seeing a Halal label. Does this mean that I have never bought Halal meat, or that I have never seen the labelling?

My point is; knowing whether or not you are eating meat that has been humanely stunned prior to slaughter or not is a minefield.

Some fast food chains sell only halal chicken, while others don’t sell any halal products. Some chains say all their Halal is clearly labelled, but then I have seen a supermarket that says it doesn’t sell Halal meat that does sell New Zealand lamb & elsewhere I have seen information stating that all New Zealand lamb is Halal. But, does this mean it is non-stunned Halal or stunned Halal?

I need to know what I am eating and how those animals have been treated.

According to a University of Bristol article (https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2020/june/halal-meat.html) 70% of sheep and goats in the UK were Halal in 2018 & this figure has been growing year on year.

While I understand that Muslims require their meat to be Halal, it appears to me at least that identifying how your meat has been killed isn’t particularly clear for anyone.

I am inclined to agree with the RSPCA that no animal should face slaughter without being stunned first, no exceptions.

We are in theory expecting revised legislation to pass at some point in 2022 clarifying the law.

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I believe we should have the choice of what meat we eat, both from restaurants and supermarkets. We need clear, unambiguous labelling so as consumers we can drive policy with our spending habits.