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?

There's literally no reason to go 100% halal. The student who requires it has meat halal meat bought in for them. I was merely pondering the idea that as the head is vegan it could be a ploy I don't know. Several teachers have said they'll be bringing in their own food, it's more about having the choice forced upon them for no reason.

Yes I'd be VERY annoyed.

“A halal animal must live a healthy life that’s free from suffering.”

Unlikely there is any truly halal meat in any industrial meat producing system

it amazes me how much people are bothered about the seconds of death more than the suffering of the animal their whole life. .pigs and chickens are particularly badly treated. We prioritise cost over welfare - myself included, I find it hard to pay £20 for a chicken which pays for a better life

Some animals are stunned which renders them temporarily unconscious. Unfortunately not all animals are then slaughtered quickly enough. It is horrible.
I witnessed a sheep having its throat cut and not stunned on a farm in Scotland years ago 😢.

I'm sure the HT thinks there are reasons. Has anyone asked her what those reasons are?

Yes, I wrote it in the op

But it is industrial methods that have always been used that cause this - that aren’t always effective - like water based stunning. Not because it is halal, but we don’t want to pay more for meat so the slaughter-houses do it as cheap as possible

So she's a vegan who's researched the welfare of the animals served in the canteen and thinks halal is more ethical? She's as ignorant as the people who think halal is cruel.

Maybe you're right. Maybe this is part of her vegan master plan.🥸

Heed this massive red flag and look for another job @Wintershealing.🚩🚩🚩

I was listening to a broadcast on Radio 4 about venison meat and the reasons why we should eat more of it. And a very convincing argument was that deer are culled, shot to the head and it's instant.

Furthermore, they are not corralled into wagons for long transportation and then led into a slaughter factory. So less stress for the animal that you are potentially going to eat.

Halal meat is marginally better within the slaughter factory. But be under no illusion that 99% of meat slaughtered in this country ha come from animals that are stressed.

I say this as a meat eater, though I eat less of it and prefer vegetarian/vegan.

No idea but the whole thing is odd and unnecessary

I'm a primary school cook, and vegetarian if it's relevant. If your child eats chicken at school I'm 99% certain it's halal and comes from Thailand. Sorry

If the change was due to religious reasons, as in a high % of children eating school lunches were Islamic I’d be fine with it, but I think the ethical reason is BS.

i was once pulled up at work for saying the meat at a social even I was helping organise was halal, apparently it was offensive. I pointed out that the company had over 90% Asian employee’s, almost 80% of them were Muslim and 95% of staff who replied they were attending the event (paid for out of their own social club contributions) were Muslim. Only 1 person had an issue with not being given a choice and they weren’t sure they were coming anyway,

Sometimes I think new HT come in and make changes for the sake of it to show they are in charge, we had one like it and have lost a lot of pupils due to her “improvements”

No it doesn't. I have a lot of knowledge in school meals and this is very misinformed. The school in question's supplier sells both halal and non halal meat and it isn't from Thailand.

Why are deer treated differently.

Don't eat halal because halah is demanded by Muslims

”I’m not really sure why religion has to come into meat”

Because you’re not religious? Does halal meat/kosher meat taste any different than non religious meat? No. So why not just let people who ARE bothered about it get on with it, and continue eating the same tasting meat you’ve always eaten? It makes no real difference to you to eat halal meat but everything to someone who HAS to eat halal meat (and I say this as someone who has zero belief in religion)

So your problem with Halal meat is Muslims.🙄

I don't know about British but putting other's needs before your own is pretty much my understanding of the gospel.

Good grief. How dare you.

Venison is lovely. And way more healthy than beef by weight. I had a lovely venison curry in Amesbury years ago. The local indian restaurant using locally culled meat was an irresistible draw.

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?

Islamophobia.

No

It's the fact that some Muslims are so hell bent on demanding our state schools, restaurents and society is changed to their culture.

There is no need for any state school to serve religious food because it's a non religious place. If you want to eat halal, than you can eat vegetarian or you can bring in your own food.

We are not a Muslim country, we are British.

You wouldn't go to Dubai and demand to be served alcohol outside of the hotels, would you. Why not?

Such a small minority who cause the vast majority of he terrorism and now want to change the culture.

If you can't see the issue.... Maybe have chats with people

There is no need for any state school to serve religious food because it's a non religious place.

Can we ban saying grace in state schools then? And we can scrap the "daily worship of a broadly Christian nature". Those are far bigger religious events in school than what was playing on the radio when the bolognese was slaughtered.

It’s not Islamophobia to say that Halal slaughter is being used inappropriately.

6% of the UK population are Muslim but in 2024 21% of all UK slaughtered poultry and 82% of sheep in the UK were Halal slaughtered.

29% of all sheep slaughtered in the UK were unstunned for a 6% population.

The numbers of animals slaughtered using Kosher methods are significantly smaller and more in line with the population. So much smaller that species specific records aren’t kept but 62,103 animals across all species in 2024 is tiny compared to the 27.7 million non stun chickens overall in the same year.

The UK produces meat for export to the ME. Not all halal slaughtered meat stays in the UK.

So your problem lies specifically with the halal element then.

I see.