to not know if this offensive?

[Catnary]

Colleague in canteen queue today, I comment that the food looks tasty. She makes a face, points to the label and says “Yeah but look, I’m not eating that!”

Label says “Halal beef casserole”.

I say “but it’s just a different way of slaughtering the cow”

”Yeah I know, that’s what I mean, it’s SO cruel. I can’t have that on my conscience.”

This was all very loud and other people overheard. Neither colleague nor I are Muslim but many other colleagues are. I felt very uncomfortable, didn’t engage, and ordered the beef.

Is this just no different to a vegetarian declaring loudly that they couldn’t possibly be so cruel as to eat meat, or is it a slur on Muslims? It felt inappropriate, especially at work.

I have literally never heard of someone in real life complain about kosher meat. It matters not how many animals are killed using these methods. If you find the method inhumane that’s fine but there is a reason that halal meat is called out more and it’s Islamophobia. That’s the massive dog whistle.

The fact they’ll eat meat and dairy products in this type of venue but complain about halal meat shows that animal welfare is not at the forefront of their mind.

Organic free range meat is cuddled to death, surely everyone knows this 😅

No it's fact it is a cruel way to kill

Thank you - I appreciate your clarifying this.

I was questioning this too - I’ve always assumed that Organic animals are slaughtered in the same manner as non-organic?

Or are there special abattoirs for them?

TBH, I’m not fussed about what my meat is listening to before slaughter (Imam CD or Now 25).

I do care that they are stunned and treated humanely.

Halal is vile. End of.

By definition if you eat meat your concern about animal welfare is limited. (Yes, I eat meat before anyone asks.)

Isn't it funny how this thread divides into those who want to discuss animal welfare (who think the racism angle is infringing on their right to prioritise the issue that they care about more), and those who interpreted the OP post as being about racism (who may or may not also have a view on animal welfare, but who fundamentally prioritise the racism angle).

The choice people exercise to frame this one way or the other is very revealing - it really reveals their particular privilege.

The same slaughterhouses can handle both. My (small up market) butcher can show you the audit trail on his meat from farm to counter and it goes through the same large commercial abattoir that spoilt pig bacon goes through, which whilst a higher welfare product is also very mass market

There's definitely lesser slaughterhouses though and I guess they get less or none of the higher welfare trade.

That's pretty much the way I see it.

And there was no need to say any more than "I don't eat halal for animal welfare reasons".

Is this serious? She’s not allowed an opinion on the cruelty of halal slaughter purposes or it’s deemed offensive.

how ludicrous

This I reckon. In a nutshell.

You do realise that if livestock wasn't killed for meat that the planet would be utterly & completely overrun with cattle, pigs & sheep?! It would be like an apocalypse

I mean that’s not really what I said. I said that you can’t stand loudly talking about how meany pants others are who kill animals to eat because you kill animals in a nice way. You can feel better that you buy chickens that get to go out for an hour a day before they’re killed, but if you really cared about animal suffering then you wouldn’t want to to eat any animals. But if you do want to eat animals you can’t exactly look down at others.

Do you think they just pop into existence magically and in a way that we have no control over? No.

They are bred, deliberately, by farmers. If there's no demand for beef, pork or lamb then they will send the remaining animals to slaughter and stop breeding them. They're not going to turn their animals loose in the local park and let them breed at will now, are they?

You could make this argument for wild British venison because they live in the wild and have no natural predators after we hunted wolves, bears etc to extinction a few centuries ago. But not for pheasants and other game birds (mostly raised by gamekeepers and released for the purposes of shooting) and certainly not for pigs, sheep, cattle and poultry.

No, it's not offensive, it's a fact.

This^ Also with regards to Kosher meat, I don't see that being shoved down my throat without having a choice whether to eat it or not and strict rules govern its production. (Beth din seal, OU-DE no milk derivatives or OU-Glatt the product is Kosher meat ) and it is shown on the product so you can make a CHOICE whether to buy it or not.

Up thread we have ridiculous titles such as 'An inclusion representative' (or something) in the workplace. Seriously?? It would be funny if it wasn't so ridiculous and ominous as I see it as a form of control on how we express ourselves. The work place is full of such titles and It is an example of just how far the country has sunk with regards to free speech/voicing an opinion. Every company has to have these diversity people in order to keep their ESG score to attract investment. Do you think the company really care if they are inclusive or not? It's an absolute load of bollocks.

What amazes me is that people just don't see it, or they do but are too scared to stand up for what they know is right and need to keep their job etc. so have to go along with it. (It's like the Emperors new clothes!)

We used to be able to express our views and debate openly. Not anymore. You'll get done for 'not being inclusive' or whatever 'ism' crime you have committed.

The country has changed beyond all measure in the last 20 or so years. We are certainly not 'free' anymore. It's turning, slowly but surely, into a communist, robotic state.

The kind of halal meat served in a work canteen is going to be part of the 95% of halal meat from animals which are slaughtered in the same way as non-halal meat except with the addition of recorded prayers being played. How is that any more or less cruel than not playing recorded prayers?

I wish halal meat was labelled as such.
We can’t buy it locally so have to make a 20 mile round trip.

I didn't know much about it so googled and found this article www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/uk-27324224.amp
It seems the vast majority of animals in the UK slaughtered in the halal way are stunned beforehand. Major supermarkets say the only difference between halal and non-halal meat is that the halal animals are read a blessing when slaughtered.
I don't eat meat. I think all animals we proiduce for food suffer greatly during their lives and deaths so those non-halal meat eaters should probably get off their high horses.

They are Indian

Do you miss the old days when people could be called paddies and p*kis and be ridiculed in their workplaces?

Why don’t you say what you really want to? “It’s PC gorn mad”…

People being challenged robustly for bigoted views is not wrong. You aren’t having halal meat shoved down your throat, the hyperbolic language is ridiculous. Do you feel the same over vegan food?

Yawn. There's a clear difference between doing something because you have to be seen to be doing something rather than doing something because there is a problem.