Time For A New Deal On Halal Food
Posted: 02/04/2014 | Author: The Political Idealist | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ethics, EU, food, Halal, kosher, multiculturalism, religion |1 CommentI have said before that the European Union, for all its faults, had the one benefit of imposing world class consumer protections across a trading bloc one-and-a-half times as populous the United States. In particular, food produced or bought in the EU has the toughest safety and ethical regulations applied anywhere in the world. It was this attitude which led to moves in the European Parliament to require labelling of all food with halal or kosher content. Muslim and Jewish consumers could have confidence that the food they buy complied with their religious beliefs, whilst others could make an informed choice about their food.
A perfectly moderate, reasonable policy, you might say. Nobody was imposing their choices on other people. Yet the legislation ran into huge opposition from the halal food industry, and was defeated. We are still not entitled to know how the animals we eat are killed. Why?
Even in a world where factory farming is fast becoming the norm, the suffering caused to animals by halal slaughter is eye-watering. Animals are left to bleed to death after their throats are cut open. They can remain conscious for minutes after cutting, experiencing agony worse than can be imagined. Muslims should be allowed to buy food prepared this way: that is their choice. Yet, I as a non-muslim, feel equally entitled to the choice to eat only humanely slaughtered meat. Unfortunately, I don’t have that choice.
Halal food is everywhere in the supply chain. Investigations show that school meals, prison food, takeaway food and ready meals from all major supermarkets often contain halal meat. That’s because halal meat doesn’t come at a premium to other meat, so is not traded separately. However, because the meat retailers don’t record the religious compliance of each batch of meat, they don’t even get the benefit of halal certification. Nobody’s happy, because they don’t know what they’re buying.
David Cameron said yesterday that there would be no restrictions on halal meat while he was Prime Minister. He is right to defend the religious rights of muslim consumers. Nevertheless, I don’t see why a requirement to label halal and kosher food should contradict that pledge. That’s the minimum that’s needed. Then we should have a national debate over a requirement that all animals are stunned before slaughter, regardless of religion. There are plenty of figures in the halal food industry who are certain that stunning animals before the cutting is entirely compatible with religious requirements. There must be no question of singling out a particular religious group, but consumers have a right to make their own, informed choices.
