To expect my daughter to have access to non halal meat

[Bushmillsbabe]

My daughters school now has only halal meat available for their school lunches.

I personally do not wish my child to have halal meat, I think its more cruel than other slaughter methods, however this thread is not intended to debate which is worse/better.

She is dairy and gluten intolerant, and her safe options tended to be things like roast chicken, the vegetarian options usually contain dairy. The pork sausages contain gluten so she would have the chicken sausages, she also eats burgers and meatballs but these are now also halal.

So if I don't give her halal meat, she is left with jacket potato with beans every day, which she does eat, but doesn't want to have every day.

I fully respect that Muslim parents wish their child to have halal meat, but am I wrong in thinking my dietary preferences for my daughter should also be respected and she should have access to non halal meat?

Just wondering how you know the majority do not want / need halal meat?
I'm an atheist so have no religious leanings, perfectly happy to eat halal meat, I know lots of people who are similar to me.
Where do did you get your information from ?

Just wondering how you know the majority do not want / need halal meat?

Presumably the taste ?🤔

The question you should actually ask the school/catering provider is whether the meat has been stunned before slaughter. The majority of halal meat is stunned.

Most schools won't have the facilities to handle multiple types of meat - so halal is an easy default. If the meat is stunned before slaughter the welfare impacts will be the same as non-halal meat.

Meat is grim either way if you think about it too much 🤢

Why avoid chicken? I always get mine from the local farm shop so assumed it was pretty ok welfare wise?

You don't really care about animal welfare, otherwise you wouldn't let her eat the cheap as chips meat supplied for school dinners anyway.

I hate to break it to you but if you eat meat you are eating a slaughtered animal OP.

YABU. If you eat meat at all you're not that bothered about the animal welfare, no matter how you dress it up it's killing an animal to eat it. The method of killing it is irrelevant.

You must've been starving

Ridiculous vegetarian over here: friend, all animal slaughter is cruel. The way the animals live is cruel. It's all a horror show for them (we make horror films about people being killed and chopped up... when it's animals, we call that a "butcher" and consider it a very wholesome profession... if animals made horror films it'd just be set it a butchers to chilling music...)

But that's me. Let's pretend that being slaughtered one way or another matters 🤷‍♀️

Preference not requirement.

School catering is on a teeny tiny budget, everyone eat halal but you are choosing not to eat it. You cannot start demanding that the provide non-halal any more than you can demand free-range eggs only, or no UPF, or no refined sugar or whatever.

It seems like they do....

She's not exactly got many other choices due to her medical condition - why choose to make it even harder for her?

The slaughter is definitely more cruel, not that any is particularly virtuous, but it is disgusting.

OP I agree, I went veggie because it's creeping in everywhere and made me question meat eating overall more.

65% of Halal meat is stunned before slaughter.

So the difference there is that the other Muslim practices (particular tools and prayers) are done, which make zero difference to the animals welfare.

But in reality, large slaughter houses are horribly frightening and stressful for animals, whether they're pre-stunned or not.

Small slaughter houses are better but still pretty scary, however that is for a shorter time, workers have less pressure and can take more time over the job so errors are incredibly unlikely.

The irony of all this drama, is that a true Halal slaughter, the way it was really intended, in a quiet corner of a field, with a calm quiet person speaking softly to the animal and doing the deed swiftly with a suitable knife... is a FAR more humane end than any of our commercial abbatoirs could ever offer.

However thats not commercially viable or practical - and we all want cheap meat much more than we want welfare.

You do realise pretty much all chicken sold in the UK is halal?

As far as I understand it the school won’t be buying non stunned halal as it is very expensive. They will be buying halal-light which is just playing some prayers in a slaughterhouse. Maybe someone who knows more can correct me on that.

If you care about animal welfare I implore you to watch any of the readily available footage taken undercover in standard slaughterhouses in the UK and then go from there.

I just check, wherever I buy meat from, that’s it’s non Halal.

Which form of halal slaughter is more cruel? The majority or the minority option?

Packed lunches give you complete control over your Dd's lunch.

I'd make it clear to the school office why you have switched, so they can take it on board but there are so few school caterers around that the school may have little choice.

I buy from a non-halal butcher, who is very clear about that point.

It goes in a loop.

Housing, healthcare, crime, halal meat, benefits... Endless divisive crap on SM. And in the dailyfail too.

Soon be time for the 'winterval' nonsense to start.

No I do not think Halal meat should be forced on everyone. It's wrong.

We have the “we can’t wear a poppy” bullshit first though!

Is it a halal poppy ?

What's your daughters opinion on this?