Should you be told if the meat you're served is halal?

[YouWillNeverGuessMyUsername]

If you go to a restaurant or cafe or cafeteria at work or whatever. Would you expect to be informed that they were serving halal meat?

On what basis? Genuinely asking as I find this topic quite interesting.

Same. I don't ask.

Ah yeah I can understand that! For me it doesn’t make a difference but would understand if others need to know!

Yes - helpful to note if meat is halal/kpsher. Makes it easier for Muslims or Jews who need to have it (if available), Sikhs (who aren't allowed it) and anyone else who prefers to avoid ritually slaughtered meat. FWIW, I don't think there is much difference in the animals' experience of ritual and non-ritual slaughter in the UK, as more than 90% of halal meat is pre-stunned.

Exactly.

So in that case so should standard UK slaughter as the vast majority of animals are killed in the usual way. Are you getting confused with kosher which isn’t stunned?

No, it does not need to be standard.

Killing animals isn’t pleasant. There are many welfare standards in this country, some of them are good, some of them are useless. People who protest about halal meat are just sticking their head in the sand about the realities of life. Or Islamophobic of course, often both.

No, I’m not vegan/veggie. Just realistic.

No, I don’t care

I know you didn’t ask me, but personally I’m not really in favour of religious exemptions where they totally go against the purpose of the rule in the first place. UK law requires animals be stunned before slaughter for ethical reasons, but there are religious exemptions for Islam and Judaism.
As I said upthread, 90% of halal meat is stunned anyway (thats 90% of the halal meat slaughtered in this country, I’ve no idea about imported meat). None of the kosher meat is because that would mean it cannot be kosher. Stunned animals can still be halal.
Either stunning the animals is important, or it isn’t. The animal doesn’t suffer less because it’s kosher or unstunned halal.
Banning halal would be just based on ignorance because most is stunned anyway, so what are you actually banning? You could certainly argue for removing the exemption, on animal cruelty grounds.

A few places we eat has it on the bottom of menus, and the takeaway we use has it clearly on the menus.

People are happy to eat, for example, chickens reared in disgusting and cruel conditions, but balk at eating a chicken which might have had a prayer said over it whilst being slaughtered. Make it make sense.

No. The method of slaughter and butchery isn't of any concern if mine. The living conditions of the animal are what matters.

I don't eat meat but if I did, then yes, I'd want to know.

It’s never crossed my mind, I’m atheist. I tend to buy higher welfare meat where it’s an option, I’ll often opt for vegan food in restaurants, however I’ll also eat dairy really regularly and the dairy industry is brutal, so I’m a bit of a hypocrite. I know vegan is probably the best option, but I do enjoy meat and dairy. I don’t think halal makes a significant difference in terms of animal welfare, so I don’t see it as an issue. Did not know about kosher meat until today though. Still wouldn’t really impact my decision making.

Yes. I want to know.

Don't need to justify or explain anything.

Just asking if you should be informed before eating the meat.

I didn't ask you to justify anything. I was giving my opinion. Hit a nerve, perhaps?

No

Just wondering if I should raise awareness in a situation to let people know they've been given halal meat without being informed about it.

How would you know if they don't?

I don't care tbh. Meat is meat. It's all dead animals.

If you're that bothered about the way it's produced then you might find it informative to look into animal welfare in the food chain because trust me halal slaughter is wayyyy down the list of things to worry about there.

Or are you truly upset by the praying over it? In which case there's no helping you...

No.

It should be indicated somewhere.

This.

Funny the people who only care about animal welfare when it’s about halal and don’t give a shit otherwise. I think it’s the same people who care about Asian grooming gangs and couldn’t give a shit about the Catholic Church, Epstein or any organised CSA by anyone else.

I wonder why.

I would have thought it would be useful for those people that have a religious need to know the exact method used to slaughter an animal. Ditto for kosher food as well.

If you don't have a religious reason to care about the exact method used to slaughter an animal, then I would have thought it to be totally irrelevant to you and so neither here nor there.

There is no ethical difference as to whether a recorded prayer is said whilst an animal is being slaughtered or not, they are killed via the same method regardless. As a vegetarian, I don't want any animal to be killed for its meat, so the exact method is not relevant to me.

Yes definitely