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2010-12-27 Europe
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New EU labels for halal and kosher foods spark anger
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Muslim and Jewish groups are preparing to challenge animal-rights campaigners next year over a European Union measure that would require halal and kosher meat products to carry a label saying the animals were not stunned before slaughter.
Animal-welfare legislation in Europe requires that abattoirs stun all animals prior to slaughter unless they are being ritually killed according to the practices of a non-Christian religion.
The move to require halal and kosher meat producers to provide consumers with more information on the packaging of their products has enraged Jewish and Muslim organisations, with the latter claiming that the move has little to do with animal welfare but, rather, reflects a pan-European bias against Islam.
Earlier this year, members of the European Parliament, by a vote of 559 to 54, passed Amendment 205 to the food-information regulation, which would require all meat from ritually slaughtered animals to be labelled: "Derived from animals that have not been stunned prior to slaughter."
A committee of the EU Council of Ministers vetoed the measure earlier this month, but members of the European Parliament are now determined to resurrect it in the coming months. "This is an emotive subject but, looked at in the cold light of day, it was clearly a discriminatory proposal," said Abdalhamid Evans, the director of the World Halal Forum Europe Project. "If consumer interest is the issue, then surely all meat products should disclose the method of slaughter, and even say which stunning methods have been used prior to slaughter."
He said there was "no clear scientific evidence" that stunning is more humane. On the contrary, "religious slaughter, performed well on a calm animal, is likely to be the least painful for the animals", said Mr Evans, citing studies by Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University widely known for her efforts to improve standards in slaughter plants and livestock farms.
Yunus Dudhwala, the chairman of the Halal Monitoring Committee in Britain, said he believed that animal welfare was a "red herring" because there was little interest shown in factory farming methods and the conditions of animal transportation prior to slaughter.
He told The Guardian newspaper this week that he would be happy for un-stunned meat to be labelled if other meat carried the method of stunning used, such as gassing or electrocution. He indicated, however, that this would never happen because it would be unpalatable for consumers.
Officials for Jewish organisations praised the EU committee's veto earlier this month of the proposed labelling measure but warned that the idea was not dead.
"There is still much work to do to ensure that new laws are not introduced next year which discriminate against shechita," said Simon Cohen, referring to the Jewish method of ritual slaughter. 
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Posted by tipper 2010-12-27 01:24||
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Posted by Anonymoose 2010-12-27 09:01||
2010-12-27 09:01||
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