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?

But she’s dairy/ gluten intolerant?
So has restricted options.
@Bushmillsbabe yanbu
Normally I’m with posters like the quoted one, but once you add intolerances into the mix you very quickly run out of options.

Me too. I’d rather we went back to small scale butchers and scrapped the massive slaughterhouses.

YABU, a dead animal is a dead animal.

Thank you.

i guess when schools have Muslims and Sikh pupils then they will have to look at how best to meet all needs

Religion should have no place at the dinner table of a school.

Disingenous post. You don't really believe the non-halal options served in mass quantites in school meals are "more cruel". Either that or you're incredibly ignorant. Either you care about the ethics of eating meat or you don't.

(I don't eat meat, but I didn't write 'ethics of veganism' because I don't believe that eating meat is necessarily unethical, just that ethical meat is too expensive and inconvenient for me.)

Do you also object to every government since 1935? After all, less than 50% of people voted for them…

If only there was a way to eat where animals don’t get slaughtered for our taste buds…..

Imo it is incredibly hypocritical to say you care about how an animal was treated when it was alive when you're eating it regardless. Like you're literally eating a dead animal?

I say this as an avid meat eater. There is no difference.

Give her a pack up.

I believe Sikhs can eat pork, although most of the Sikhs I know are vegetarian.

Would be more difficult if there are Jewish and Muslim pupils, although strict kosher would be challenging in most school environments I think so not quite sure how that works. Again, most of the Jewish people I know tend to choose the vegetarian option when out.

I agree in many ways, I eat very little meat. My oldest has made a decision to be vegetarian which is fine.
But between the allergies and psycholoical negative associations with many foods, youngest already has a restricted diet so to restrict it further and make her vegetarian has been advised against by her dietician.
Yes, we have tried packed lunches but she refused to eat, she does have some sensory needs and we are on wait list for an ASD assessment.

But clearly the consensus is that we shouldn't be bothered about halal vs non halal, thanks for all the perspectives

I mean a quick google says 6.5% of the U.K. is Muslim.

It is rather odd to change all school meals
to halal meat for 6.5% total. Many of which will be adults.

Looks like 0.5 Jews. 0.9 Sikh.

So the majority eat non religious meat. The 0.9 included in that who are not supposed to eat food prayed over.

Can you not just send her in with a pack up?

Because non-Muslims can eat halal meat. This way means only one lot of meat needs to be bought.

Judaism, Christianity, Sikhism to name a few.

That's not knowing a fact though is it.
Which is what I was questioning.

I agree with you. I had halal meat the other day and grew and second head.
Awful!

Or maybe parents who are wanting this form of meat should find a school where the majority agreed with them instead of saying the majority in this school have to 'support' their fad.

Personally I agree. Why should I have to live my life because of someone elses sky fairy beliefs ?

But we re where we are.

What about any non-Muslims?

Why can’t someone oppose eating halal meat for their own reasons? Why does it have to involve an imaginary man in the sky?

School dinners are pretty poor. We shouldn’t be trying to make them even more limited.

If you're an observant Jew, it's simply forbidden to eat non-kosher meat. There isn't any specific prohibition on halal or any other religion's slaughtering methods.

Jewish schools have specialist kosher caterers. It's really impossible in a school situation to have both kosher and non-kosher hot meals, everything would need separate equipment.

The history of religious slaughter bans in Europe has a disgusting and antisemitic history and it's no surprise that it's now being transferred to Muslims.

It sounds like realistically it’s in your child’s best interest not to restrict her diet further.

really any meat eaten outside the house you won’t know the full orgins of. Given the history of your daughter this would fall into the pick your battles ground

Maybe all schools should move to pack up only. Let the children eat what they/their parents want. Also should provide proper fridge space for them mind. Nobody wants a warm cheese sandwich.

I've worked in schools where there were very few Muslim kids who ate the veggie options and in schools that had many Muslim kids that switched to halal meat but also served some pork products and veggie dishes etc.

Schools communities don't tend to follow societal statistics so the 'minority' argument doesn't work for all.

I would wager that catering companies are mostly concerned with costs but choosing not to eat halal meat is just that - a CHOICE, not a necessity. They do not have to cater for choices.

I'd be sending in a pack up for 3 days and letting her have a jacket one day and chips and beans another.