To not offer two types of beef burger at summer fair (halal and non halal)?

[NameChangedJune]

In addition a veggie option?

I’ve took responsibility for sorting the burgers for BBQ at summer school PTA fair.
I was thinking, I can buy all burgers as halal only. A good portion of the school population are either non-religious or Muslim.

However, DH is saying we should also offer a non-halal burger option (he is religious - Sikh and avoids halal due to his beliefs). However I think he is a minority and could have veggie? There are Hindus but they wouldn’t eat beef anyway so it’s a tiny amount of people other than DH who I think would care if we go full halal for the burgers.

IMO one type of beef burger that is suitable for most would be easiest. AIBU?

Again not true re supermarkets.
There is no requirement to label the method of slaughter in supermarkets

Do ordinary beef and veggie.
A lot of people who only eat halal choose veggie when they are not cooking themselves or the food comes from a source that also provides non halal as they can't be confident its been kept seperate.
Plus some meat eaters do not want to eat halal

@BrownTroutBluesAgain Don't understand what is not true. Are you saying that Halal Meat, sold as such in say Tesco, may not have been pre-stunned?

Is anybody else getting “Visit Saudi Arabia” adverts at the top of this thread?

Yes of course.
This has been going on for years.
Theres no requirement to label the type or method of slaughter in our supermarkets.

Heres a headline first page from the Independent but there are lots of articles on this.
I understand Asda used to not sell no stun meat as of a few years back I don’t know about more recently

All Tesco branches sell stunned halal meat, though it is often not labelled as being halal.

Some Tesco branches have a halal butchers counter where unstunned halal meat is sold.

https://www.tescoplc.com/sustainability/documents/policies/our-approach-to-religious-slaughter-and-animal-welfare

22% of sheep slaughtered in the UK - all sheep, not just those labelled as halal - are slaughtered without stunning.

Given that 6.5% of the population are Muslims and 0.5% are Jews, I think it's fair to assume that there is a significant amount of unstunned lamb and mutton being sold unlabelled for general consumption - and this is legal.

35% of halal slaughter is carried out without stunning.

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

There is a legal requirement for stunning before slaughter, but Jews and Muslims are given an exemption from this legislation.

I don't think anyone should be exempted from animal welfare legislation on religious grounds. Exempting Sikhs from wearing motorcycle helmets because of their turban? Fine, that only really affects them, so I don't particularly care. Animal welfare legislation is entirely different.

All of the major animal welfare organisations oppose unstunned slaughter.

I know the thread is pretty full, but wanted to offer my 2 Penny’s worth.

i once did this at a work event, all meat was halal as about 90% of staff were Muslim. The event coincided with St Patrick’s day so everyone happily wore green. I actually got in trouble from head office for saying all meat was Halal and not offering a non halal option. I also got in trouble for putting a leprechaun on the invite. Apparently having a St Patrick’s day themed bbq and only Halal meat ( there were loads of veggie burgers and sausages) was exclusive and offensive.

I will hold my hand up, I was ignorant to how halal meat was slaughtered at the time. I was just thinking that 90% of staff were Muslim and it was the easy option. And who dosnt love a Paddy’s Day event, given I was probably the only attendee who could consider themselves Irish ( both my parents are) I wasn’t offended by the leprechaun. But head office in another country were.

The fact that a few Tesco stores, in areas where there is high demand, sell meat slaughtered without being pre-stunned is new to me. It's many years since I lived in an area with large Muslim (or Jewish) population so that's probably not surprising.

Do we slaughter large numbers of sheep for export to countries where unstunned Halal is required?

Do you check food before you eat it to see if it's Halal? And then avoid it if so? Plenty of food is Halal.

Finally a sensible post!

The sheep from the no stun uk abattoirs are for uk consumption in pure form and to go into various pre prepared meals.
They are given special permission as this is against our animal welfare laws.

Over 80% halal is stunned

will you not be offering hot dogs? In that case I'd do halal beef burgers, standard pork hot dogs and a veggie option.

It's political correctness gone mad. To try and think of every eventuality so as not to potentially offend someone who probably wouldnt be offended anyway, madness.

I'm gobsmacked that so many people think they are somehow standing on the side of animal welfare by eating only non-Halal meat. Do people have no idea of the reality of industrial farming? Live animal exports, overcrowding, disease? Do they realise that dairy involves female cows being repeatedly mated with against their will, having their newborn babies taken away (at which they howl for hours), then milked daily by a machine often with infected udders, until they are pregnant yet again? I am not a vegan by the way. But I can see that the dairy industry, and the meat industry, are utterly barbaric. That's before we even get to how they drive climate change. Anyone eating mass-produced meat or dairy (myself included) can make no claim to be on the moral high ground. Stunning of animals in their last moments is almost irrelevant given the utter misery and pain they experience in their lives beforehand.

I wouldn't ever eat halal meat (and do everything within my power to prevent that), but I guess you have to establish your target market. TBH it might just be better with all veggie options, then there's no risk of any cross contamination! Falafels, veggie burgers, simple salad, sauces, hummus, served in wraps or buns (with a gf option). Simple. Tasty.

@mswales it's not much of a moral highground, its more our UK methods are marginally less barbaric than the stun and knife method and considerably less barbaric than the 15 odd percent that arent stunned first.

I have not heard of Sikhs who do not eat halal.....? Is that really a thing....

Lots of people don't want to eat halal.

You can't just offer halal meat, it's not suitable for most, many people have a huge problem with it for various reasons. I'm neither Muslim nor a vegetarian and I wouldn't go to a BBQ where veggie or halal meat burgers were the only thing on offer 🤷‍♀️

No that’s an incorrect figure according to the Food Standards Agency
Around 65% are stunned first so 35% are not stunned.

All animal slaughter involves distress to the animals. none go gleefully skipping onto the killing floor

Very true, @oakleaffy, so about the best we can hope for is that although something's going to die, it isn't tortured beforehand - and that applies not just to halal but other practices like battery farming, veal and pig crates, inappropriate transportation and all the rest

That’s 35% of animals slaughtered for halal meat are not stunned first

The Islamophobia in this thread is insane, as quite a few PP have said.

OP, sounds sensible to serve only halal given the demographic.

Thanks, someone was quoting 85% or 88% last night so must depend on the source. The fact it's not 100% shows how inhumane this procedure is. I'm surprised the UK law allows it not to be 100%.