Welfare worry over Saudi lamb exports
AGROUP which promotes the Welsh meat industry said it has no plans to change its slaughter policy ahead of a lamb export deal with Saudi Arabia.
Campaigners have raised concerns that lambs might not be stunned before they are killed for export to Saudi Arabia in order to comply with the Gulf kingdom’s halal requirements.
No lambs have been exported yet as part of the deal, estimated to be worth £25 million to the UK over the next five years, but politicians have put pressure on the Government to say what the arrangements will be.
It is estimated that around 30% of the lambs exported will come from Wales, and trade group Meat Promotion Wales said all Welsh lamb was stunned before slaughter.
A Meat Promotion Wales spokesman confirmed that it was “exploring new business opportunities for Welsh lamb which do not involve any relaxation of the current strict welfare requirements to which the industry adheres”.
Welsh lamb, he said, was already exported to Dubai and two other Gulf states. All of it, he said, was stunned before slaughter.
Asked would happen if Saudi Arabia insisted on non-stunned meat, the spokesman said: “Discussions are ongoing regarding export certification and that there are no plans to change our policy.”
Meat Promotion Wales has been targeting Saudi Arabia, which imports around 40% of its meat, as a lucrative potential market. The group’s market development executive, Rhys Llywelyn, said earlier this year that gaining access to the county’s 33 million consumers had been “the culmination of many years of work”.
Under EU and UK law, all animals should be stunned before being slaughtered. But there is an exemption that allows non-stun slaughter for meat intended for religious communities within the European Union.
The RSPCA said most halal meat in the UK was in fact stunned before slaughter via a so-called recoverable stun. But it has expressed concern that lamb to Saudi Arabia might not undergo this method, as has been reported in the journal Veterinary Record.
Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs said the UK Government would be lowering its standards should this prove to be the case.
Lib-Dem MP Tim Farron said: “The Government has shown extreme negligence by announcing such a significant deal without full consideration of the details.”
A Defra spokesman said: “All lamb exported to Saudi Arabia must be accompanied by a halal certificate, and all slaughter, whether stun or nonstun, must strictly comply with EU and UK rules on animal welfare.
“The deal with Saudi Arabia does not signal a move to non-stunned slaughter exports as the UK leaves the European Union.”
John Fishwick, president of the British Veterinary Association, which has been calling for an end to nonstun slaughter in the UK for years, said there was a lack of clarity on the Saudi Arabia deal.
But he said the recoverable stun method, used in halal slaughterhouses in another big exporting country New Zealand - could be the solution.