Paper's Report On Halal Slaughtering Highlights EU Labeling Proposal

Yesterday's London Mail carried an investigative report on Halal slaughtering of animals in Britain written by a reporter who went under cover into a slaughter house posing as a business man considering buying Halal meat for a chain of stores. Reporter Danny Penman obviously came away as no fan of the slaughtering practices, describing the killing of animals without stunning them first in graphic terms. The article goes on to report that supermarkets, fast food chains including McDonalds, schools, hospitals, pubs and sporting venues "are serving up halal meat to unwitting customers."  British law generally requires animals to be stunned before they are slaughtered, but the Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995 contain an exemption for slaughter by religious methods. Penman reports on growing objections to the exemption (which also covers kosher slaughter) and says that some Halal meat producers have taken to using stunning. He also reports that in June, the European Parliament proposed a labeling requirement that would force halal and kosher meat to be labeled as coming from "unstunned animals." A spokesman for Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says that in principle the Government supports labeling, but it would rather have all animals stunned. A Halal slaughterhouse owner says he would also support a labeling requirement.