Would you be annoyed if school went 100% halal meat?

[Wintershealing]

The school I work at has a new head teacher who has announced from after half term all meat needs to be halal. She says it's a more ethical way to slaughter animals (she's vegan herself) and no non-halal meat will be on offer. She said anyone who doesn't want it can bring a packed lunch.

I don't know much about halal meat other than it's religious connections. What do you think?

Yes but some people care about the animal that comes before the meat.

And they are entitled to their opinion and beliefs, I was replying to the OPs question not you.

I suppose if its no biggie and you cant even tell, etc etc. Why have halal or kosher products at all?

Why are religious types getting a bee in their bonnet about having it?

You see the argument works both ways doesnt it

My daughter's school is vegetarian meals only.
It's a small sen school with not many pupils so it's easier.
It's fine apart from some dreadful veggie sausages they have sometimes and served up once at a summer fayre.
They were like solid sticks. Very weird. 😂

I try to eat high welfare meat, so my interest would only be in the welfare side of the meat's production, whether halal or non halal .

Pretty sure it’s only been about a week since the last one of these threads.

My DC’s schools have all been halal meet only (or veggie or vegan options). I don’t see it as an issue. My understanding is the prayer over the meat is essentially a tape playing in the background, and I can’t see how that impacts anyone eating the meat. I imagine the kids eating it are not aware. My understanding is that most halal meat in this country is now stunned before slaughter, certainly the meat that is coming into schools anyway. Can’t really see what the issue is?

But they are stunned.
That's the law (isn't it ??)
The animals aren't conscious.
To be honest I don't eat much meat. Mostly bacon or pork sausages really so the whole halal/not halal doesn't really apply.

That was my thoughts too.

I consider this to be forcing a religious affiliation on to people (children) who are not being given a choice and it does bother me.

There is a disrespect or misunderstanding of the sacredness of religious rituals by some on this thread. For some of you a prayer is just air over vocal cords no different to saying ‘Hi’ or ‘owww’ or ‘Hope’ or ‘hate’…yet words have meanings.

A prayer is words infused with sacred meaning for those saying it. For those who subscribe to the religion is a way of connecting to their God.

As someone who doesn’t connect to God through Muslim expression of faith It does bother me that the meat is blessed in a particular way as by eating in it - I would be joining in with their expression of faith.

(Unless I was eating Halal meat at a Muslim friends house - in which case there is a different context and I would be choosing to join in the shared friendship and hospitality - however this situation is not that).

Secular should be the default with religious choices as additional and not the other way around.

Pork chops and sausages are cheap and part of school dinners around here.

Not really sure halal pork is a thing ....

A prayer is words infused with sacred meaning for those saying it. For those who subscribe to the religion is a way of connecting to their God.

Which would all be very well, However mankind has yet to develop a scientific way to test what prayers (if any) have been said over a slaughtered animal.

It's almost as if it's a load of cobblers...

Can’t say I’d be arsed either way 🤷🏻‍♀️
Meat is meat. I’m a meat eater, and I’d hazard a guess that any method of slaughter isn’t exactly a lovely day at the office for the animal.
The vast majority of halal meat in the U.K. nowadays is stunned and killed in the exact same way as non-halal, there’s just a prayer blasted over a speaker in the slaughterhouse.
I’m really not bothered whether my steak heard a Muslim prayer as it died. I’m eating it either way.

If you don't like the way an animal is killed, don't eat it simples. Nobody needs meat, where I work vegetarianism/ veganism is so prevelent all our work meals are vegan, it's really fine and very healthy.

The industrialisation of meat production has created no end of suffering for animals, both throughout their life and at the point of slaughter.

Also, Islamic scholarship on this subject is quite complex, and observant Muslims are as concerned as anyone else that their meat is produced humanely.

But let's not bother about all that, hey? Let's focus on the possibility that some faith practices - and, more juicily, some Islamic practices - might sometimes be contributing in some relatively small way to the suffering involved in mass produced meat. It's not as if we have to care about the actual animals, is it? It's all about performing our rationalist disdain for faith, and our Western liberal moral superiority.

I feel so shocked and sad at the flowering of anti-Islam preoccupations on MN. Love and solidarity to any Muslims reading, and to anyone of any faith who despairs at the lack of understanding shown here.

Wouldn’t bother me. You can be sure those moaning don’t give two hoots when they order a Chinese of a Friday night.

@ProfoundlyPeculiarAndWeird it's not about being any particular religion, it's about the fact a meat associated with religion shouldn't be forced in schools which is what is happening. If the prayer is pointless then why allow it at all and say sorry, no meat associated to religion will be provided in schools period. If people want to purchase it elsewhere to consume in their own setting then fair enough.

Lots of school around here are halal, they are catering to the majority in their schools.

No, there’s an exemption for religious slaughter

https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/farm/slaughter/religiousslaughter

@crumpetswithcheeze yes but the vast majority of halal meat is stunned in the UK.

88% of animals for halal slaughter are stunned in the UK.

No animals can be stunned for kosher slaughter.

Why is it Halal people have issue with and Halal that ends up in the news?

Anyway, I've eaten Halal meat and kosher meat and meat that is neither Halal nor Kosher. I haven't become Muslim or Jewish as a result, so no one is forcing their religion on me.

I'd like the animals to be cared for well before they die, so I aim for free range and all of that - but they're dying regardless, so eating meat isn't an ethical decision, full stop.

A friend visits slaughter houses / abattoirs as a routine part of their job. They said the prayer aspect is pretty much just a tape playing in the background and the most of the big places do stun, whether the kills are halal (or kosher) or not. Though there are religious loopholes, pre-slaughter stunning is the law and the majority of UK slaughterhouses are abiding by that for all of their work, as it keeps the paperwork simpler when it comes to audits etc.

As a Christian, yes I wouldn’t be happy about this. Why on earth would they think this in acceptable?

I actively go out of my way to make sure I don’t eat foods blessed by other religions.

@Marble10Then those children should have a packed lunch.

Probably but I don’t think the animals know or care (especially if it’s already been
stunned) and it’s not going to turn you muslim if you eat it.

Would it be OK if the headteacher suddenly decided that the school uniform will now be Islamic dress?

I think it's disingenuous to suggest that the issue people may have with this only comes down to quibbles about the method of killing. We aren't a Muslim country and Halal meat shouldn't be the default for that reason