To think the new halal and kosher labelling bill is a great idea?

[thisismetryingijustwantedyoutoknow]

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-02-24/debates/8FDB8A16-AE50-4246-ADC9-70191907499B/FoodLabelling(HalalAndKosherMeat)

personally I’m not bothered that meat is killed in certain ways, I think if you eat meat you need to make peace with the entire process being pretty horrible for the animals.

But if you’re going to have issues with halal slaughter, you also need to have an issue with kosher slaughter. It’s the exact same process, just with different prayers said. The slaughter process is the same in both methods - the animal has its throat slit and they are left to have the blood drain out.

Why are people asking the same question repeatedly when posters like me have already explained this. Are you not reading the thread?

I have not seen this at all and I have been reading about this for months.

Halal is certainly mentioned more in the public domain - shops and products often have Halal written on them so there is probably more public awareness. Some people may not be aware of Kosher - I never see it advertised in my area but regularly see halal.

But the people I have seen campaigning want both stopped. And I agree both should be banned entirely - it’s inhumane.

I brought up religious slaughter with a huge group of friends the other day and a few had no idea - several went home and researched it and are now avoiding religiously slaughtered meat. It’s easier to avoid halal as restaurants often make it clear - which is great as it means I don’t eat there. I have no interest in buying this product for my children (I’m veggie).

The public should get to choose, labelling is important. If halal has been sneakily brought into schools, restaurants etc without clear labelling this is wrong. I will no longer buy school meals.

If kosher has sneakily been brought in that is also wrong - but I am not sure Kosher is being served in schools and restaurants near me. The religious exemptions currently say halal and kosher can be served to those who require it. But it appears that halal is being served in many places to people who do not require it.

Why has this happened? And why has the same not happened with kosher (or has it in your area of the U.K.)?

Because it's not as clear as "wanting a choice" or "animal cruelty" - most halal meat is stun slaughtered and so a clear halal label won't inform the buyer of whether the meat was stunned or not. The religious emphasis of the labelling won't answer the question most people say they care about.

In my case I care about both. I don’t want Muslim slaughter practises in the uk as a default.

35% of UK lamb is exported. Even if all of that is Halal it leave a massive oversupply for 6% of the UK population.

I think @anon666sums it up, labelling will catch up with consumer opinion or should do.

Agree 100%

Does everything have to be called bigotry these days? Can no one engage in a debate without throwing around insults and calling everyone racist, like an adult?

I don't want to eat non-stunned meat, I don't know why that's any less valid of a choice than those who only wish to eat non-stunned meat. We're all allowed our own view and to make our own choices with what we eat.

But if it’s Halal and it has been pre-stunned, as is so often argued, it’s only a light stun. The animal has to be conscious to hear the prayer. So the animal is still aware of what is happening and will still suffer and feel pain. It’s abhorrent and is unnecessary suffering in the name of religion. I think there needs to be an outright ban on both Kosher and Hallal meat in the UK.

The animal has to be conscious to hear the prayer!
I actually did not know that, but even more of a reason to get this religious nonsense out of Uk slaughterhouses.

Because it's not true. The words are said before the cut is made, the animal does not have to hear it. How would anyone ascertain if the animal has heard it or not?! And it's not a prayer, it's a statement that Muslims say many times a day "in the name of God" such as before they eat, before they enter their home, before they start their homework..

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I'm saying the proposed legislation doesn't make it clear enough for the discerning consumer.

Yeah it's usually prayer played, stunned, slaughtered. But in reality (having worked in a slaughter house) it's a prayer on a continuous loop over the speakers and the slaughter production line doesn't stop.

There's super fancy halal abbotoirs where prayers are individual and there's no stun but the meat is generally much more expensive/ for specific butchers or for export (though not always).

There's also meat which whilst slaughtered with prayer is not considered halal due to "contamination", I'm not sure how the new law would accommodate that?

What would be the nature of the contamination?

Loads of stuff - prayer cutting out at some point, being pork having been slaughtered on the same slaughter line/ used the same stun machinery (there's specific rules on how the production lines / stun equipment needs to be cleaned before they can be considered halal again, separate to any hygiene related cleaning). Occasionally the packaging can be wrong, or the little absorbent pads be considered non halal. Some parts of the animal can't touch others in some circumstances as well. There's a list of requirements that make it halal.

It's not contamination in an unfit for human consumption perspective.

I didn't know that. I was looking at info on the RSPCA website, you'd have thought they would mention it!

Yes it is cruel for sure.

It's not true. Plus most stun is pretty light anyway and there's often a delay in stun and kill and animals often come round.

The least cruel form of slaughter is direct farm slaughter, regardless of stun.

FYI, I do eat meat! (I know some of my info can sound like I'm a vegan or something).

I think in principle labelling meat so that people know what they’re getting is reasonable.

However the obvious flaw with this system is that just because meat might not be labelled halal or kosher - for example if it didn’t meet all the requirements - wouldn’t guarantee the animal either had been stunned or had been killed in any way humanely (with a big question mark as to whether that’s achievable anyway). So to achieve that effect you’d need some sort of labelling that gave assurance as to how the animal actually had been killed, not just the absence of religious labelling.

I don’t eat meat anyway but the proposed system seems like it leaves something to be desired if what you’re looking for is assurance that the animal was killed in a way you approve of.

Yes, I agree the labelling needs to be quite clear.

I do also wonder what will happen in circumstances where the animal is killed in what is normally a stun abbotoir but where the bolt pistol misfires, is broken etc. In my experience the animals are still slaughtered, just without the stun but I don't know how that specific carcass would be tracked as non-stun.

It's extremely complicated, I can understand why it hasn't been addressed before now.

Does it include more foods that are kosher or just meat? If so, why not other foods?

Other foods are already labelled as kosher, if they are kosher. If they are not labelled (and are not single ingredient like an apple) then they are not kosher - depends how strict a Jewish person is though. Some only apply kosher rules to meat, or simply to whether anim could be kosher (e.g. some Jews don't eat pork or crustaceans, but would eat chicken even if not from a kosher slaughter house).

For orthodox Jews, kosher not only applies to the food stuffs but also it's preparation and other strict rules.

Which I understand already. So not sure what the issue is as it is already labelled. So why the drama? Especially when things like pop and milk and apple pies are labelled.

I don't understand. You asked if it included other foods, I answered?

Yes it was stating the obvious. Kosher is already labelled as is halal so the bill is pointless then as nothing has changed.