MPS look at halal and kosher meat labels to address cruelty concerns
HALAL and kosher meat could be labelled by method of slaughter after Brexit, amid concerns that animals are suffering needlessly before being killed.
Tory MPS and leading vets have for years raised concerns that the failure to stun animals before killing them under some methods of slaughter is cruel.
George Eustice, the farming minister, has now given a clear indication that the Government will consider introducing labelling after the UK leaves the European Union.
It comes after Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, vowed to ensure that animal welfare standards will be even higher after Britain leaves the EU.
Mr Eustice said that consumers should be able to make an “informed choice” about what they decide to buy.
He said: “The Government believes that consumers should have the necessary information available to them to make an informed choice about their food, and this is something we can consider in the context of leaving the EU.”
In conventional slaughterhouses, cows, sheep and chicken are stunned, usually with an electric shock, to ensure they are unconscious before their throats are cut.
However under both the Muslim method of slaughter, known as zabiha, and the Jewish practice, shechita, a surgically sharp instrument is used to cut straight through an animal’s throat, windpipe and blood vessels in its neck.
Religious groups insist the method kills animals instantly, although this has been disputed by the British Veterinary Association.
Shechita animals are not stunned before being killed. Some Muslim slaughterhouses also neglect to “prestun”. Critics say such practices harm the welfare of animals.
A number of backbenchers have called for food labels to state the precise method of slaughter. Laurence Robertson, a Tory MP, said: “I think it’s cruel, it’s painful and it’s completely unnecessary. People have strong religious beliefs but I wouldn’t want anyone to suffer because of that. My own view is we should stun every animal before it’s killed. It should be labelled so people can make an informed choice.”
His concerns were echoed by the British Veterinary Association, which has called for a complete ban on the slaughter of animals without stunning.
However Shechita UK, a group which campaigns for the Jewish method of slaughter, said it favoured labelling only if all methods of slaughter were described, including captive bolt shooting, gassing, electrocution and drowning. It says that the act of shechita slaughter stuns the animal because of the sudden loss of blood.
Omer El-hamdoon, deputy secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, raised concerns that stunning itself is killing animals before they are slaughtered. “We disagree with the BVA that this is cruel. We don’t believe there is enough evidence to suggest the animal is suffering. It is possible that the bolt could also be cruel to the animal, or placing a chicken through electrocuted water is also painful.”