Britain goes halal

[Ignitionnet]

About the only interesting bits are the following:

An RSPCA spokesman added: ‘The public have a right to know how their meat is produced. Many people are extremely concerned about animal welfare. What The Mail on Sunday has discovered shows that people are not being kept informed. The key to a more humane death for these animals is that they are stunned before slaughter.’

Very true, the lack of transparency is not appropriate.

A spokesman for Twickenham, which sells only halal chicken despite not advertising the fact, insisted that the lack of transparency ‘had never been an issue’ and said: ‘Our consideration is more for those who want halal, to ensure they get it.’

Very annoying - there should be consideration for those on the other side of things as well. Of course there's never been an issue with a lack of transparency, that's the point, the lack of transparency hid the issue.

Ignoring the Mail's hyperboles it's quite disconcerting that there is a roll back in animal welfare in favour of religious superstitions however this is merely a reflection of the UK in general at the moment with religion being more of an issue in day to day life than it has in a while.

As a general disclaimer however I should of course mention that I am not religious per se and believe this country, and every other nation on Earth, should be governed with tolerance but absolutely no deference or reference to religious beliefs.

[Gary L]

I think it's a bit like eggs. and whether they're free range or not. some people think that those that aren't free range are cruel to the animals, and won't buy them.
they even go out of their way to tell you whether they were from the cruel or not cruel way.

I can see how this could be seen as being cruel to the animal in the publics eyes if they were told about it.

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

I once saw the BBC programme where they take a animal, slaughter it and serve it. In it it said that the law relating to animal slaughtering in UK slaughter houses/abbatoirs (non religious ones) is that the stunning proces cannot kill the animal. The stun is used to 'stun' and then the cow is hung upside down, has its throat slit, and bled to death. Any animals killed via stunning are removed from the process. These practices were introduced during the mad cow disease era.

[Lew]

An RSPCA spokesman added: ‘The public have a right to know how their meat is produced. Many people are extremely concerned about animal welfare. What The Mail on Sunday has discovered shows that people are not being kept informed. The key to a more humane death for these animals is that they are stunned before slaughter.’

Is that actually true though?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher#Animal_welfare

In 1978, a study incorporating EEG (electroencephalograph) with electrodes surgically implanted on the skull of 17 sheep and 15 calves, and conducted by Wilhelm Schulze et al. at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Germany concluded that "the slaughter in the form of a ritual cut is, if carried out properly, painless in sheep and calves according to EEG recordings and the missing defensive actions" (of the animals), but that when Captive Bolt Stunning (CBS) was used, which is common in normal (non-kosher) slaughtering,[51] "For sheep, there were in part severe reactions both in bloodletting cut and the pain stimuli."

[Hom3r]

Our local tesco has a frozen section that is for Halal food.

Just as well I'm not into meat.

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by Hom3r

Our local tesco has a frozen section that is for Halal food.

What if they labelled it as 'throat cut/religious" and not 'stunned/welfare"?

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

What also amuses me is that a lot of "non religious" abbatoirs slaughter animals by cutting across the throat, but not saying any prayers. Is the anger here to do with a prayer being said, or the manner in which its killed. I'd say the former. If atheists don't belive in God or religion, and go on about how silly it is for Christians, Jews, Muslims to believe in fairy tales, why do they get so upset when someone utters a prayer? Is it effecting their way of life? Will you become a muslim because you've eaten Halaal meat? Or a Jew - because you've eaten Kosher. I assume the Mail did not throw its arms in the air about Kosher - probably did not want to upset any of the Jews that sit on its board.

[Lew]

Originally Posted by Hom3r

Our local tesco has a frozen section that is for Halal food.

Just as well I'm not into meat.

And I'd imagine they have a much bigger frozen section for non-Halal food, right? I'm not sure what the problem is here. They stock Halal food but make sure it's separated from the non-Halal food so that those who don't want it aren't likely to get it by mistake? Surely that's a good thing?

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by Saaf_laandon_mo

What also amuses me is that a lot of "non religious" abbatoirs slaughter animals by cutting across the throat, but not saying any prayers. Is the anger here to do with a prayer being said, or the manner in which its killed. I'd say the former. If atheists don't belive in God or religion, and go on about how silly it is for Christians, Jews, Muslims to believe in fairy tales, why do they get so upset when someone utters a prayer? Is it effecting their way of life? Will you become a muslim because you've eaten Halaal meat?

I think you're just ranting. the saying of the little prayer is irrelevant I'd say. I personally couldn't be bothered what anyone mumbles after doing it. I'd be more concerned about how they did it.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Saaf_laandon_mo

What also amuses me is that a lot of "non religious" abbatoirs slaughter animals by cutting across the throat, but not saying any prayers. Is the anger here to do with a prayer being said, or the manner in which its killed. I'd say the former. If atheists don't belive in God or religion, and go on about how silly it is for Christians, Jews, Muslims to believe in fairy tales, why do they get so upset when someone utters a prayer? Is it effecting their way of life? Will you become a muslim because you've eaten Halaal meat? Or a Jew - because you've eaten Kosher. I assume the Mail did not throw its arms in the air about Kosher - probably did not want to upset any of the Jews that sit on its board.

I think you know as well as the rest of us that if halal was nothing to do with Islam this wouldn't have made it in to the Mail or on to CF.

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Russ

I think you know as well as the rest of us that if halal was nothing to do with Islam this wouldn't have made it in to the Mail or on to CF.

Russ are you calling me a racist for posting an animal welfare issue ?

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

Originally Posted by Gary L

I think you're just ranting. the saying of the little prayer is irrelevant I'd say. I personally couldn't be bothered what anyone mumbles after doing it. I'd be more concerned about how they did it.

Gary, I would suggest you look at slaughter houses in general then. Both in the UK, and countries which export meats to the UK. You might find that the only difference between halaal and non - halaal is "what anyone mumbles after doing it".

[Russ]

Originally Posted by papa smurf

Russ are you calling me a racist for posting an animal welfare issue ?

No, Islam isn't a race. I'd call you anti-Muslim for the many many thinly-veiled Muslim-bashing posts you make.

I'm not saying I think the lack of transparency isn't an issue but I think it's pretty clear what your intention is in this and previous similar-themed threads.

Originally Posted by papa smurf

love curry Chris - and i had worked out for myself that the owner may or may not be a muslim .

that brings me back to labels and signs re HalHal
and not all Indians are Muslim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_India

---------- Post added at 10:05 ---------- Previous post was at 10:02 ----------



of course it does Chris , oh how neatly that fits in with religious slaughter i feel so comforted by that revelation

You do know, of course, that the majority of "Indian" restaurants in the UK are run by Bangladeshi?

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

And here I was thinking Sunday was a day of rest, lol.