Esther McVey calls for halal and kosher meat to be labelled - immediately reminded it already is

[SerendipityJane]

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/esther-mcvey-calls-for-halal-and-kosher-meat-to-be-labelled-immediately-reminded-it-already-is-403548/

I think it is labelled in such a way that the vast percentage of the population doesn't understand. Obviously deliberate.

Please tell me how I can tell which animal has been unnecessarily cruelly killed by the packaging.

How do you think people who will only eat halal or kosher know what they can eat? It's not a secret code, it says halal or kosher.

Can you explain how it's labelled so people don't understand?

Halal and pre stunning gets complicated as for many Muslims it's sufficient for prayers to be said.

Kosher is much more prescriptive but is likely to be sold in establishments catering for Jewish areas.

There are also those who say religious slaughter properly done is no more distressing than pre stun, particularly where latter is on a supermarket scale.

There’s another thread on this with votes showing a clear majority yanbu to the op.

Some halal meat is labeled a halal. But not all is labelled as halal some just halal slaughter meat goes into the general food chain. That is the bit that people are concerned about - it should be possible to choose meat that has not been halal slaughtered. If you eat in a London Nandos you are more than likely having halal chicken, and probably don't realise, for example.

A bit of research suggests Halal chicken in UK Nandos is pre stunned.

Would people be OK with that or do the Islamic prayers worry them?

I've eaten at Nando's and no one has ever told me the meat is halal. So if their chicken is, then consumers are not all aware. Hence the request for clarity?

My priority is to eat meat that comes from animals who have been cared for decently and killed humanely. I'm not fussed about the praying, although presumably some people are and it's their right to be informed.
It's most important that no animal is slaughtered without stunning first.

Either prayers matter or they don't. If they don't matter just ditch them completely.

Does it matter to you if there's an Islamic prayer played when the chicken for your Nandos is dispatched?

If it does matter to somebody else how are you affected?

She’s calling for a bill - ie a proposal for a new law - to be passed for compulsory labelling. There currently is no such law that makes labelling mandatory. Why have you decided that means she is ‘thick’?

It has either Kosher or Halal on the labels. It's very clear!

I guess the suggestion is that Halal meat ffinds it's way into (eg) ready meals unlabeled. But if it's pre stunned then there's no difference unless you've a hang up over prayers.

Most meat in U.K. supermarkets is killed by religious slaughter, which means the animal is lightly stunned and comes back round whilst it’s being killed and prayers on loud speaker are played on a constant loop, there is a large group of people who research and have pushed this to be debated in parliament, they have a website you can go on and put in the slaughter code, which is on all meat packages and it will tell you if it was killed by religious slaughter or not..most of it is! Even organic and free range meat is being slaughter religiously. It’s not the prayers that people object to as much as the animal having its throat cut while conscious and aware of it! We as consumers are being misled and lied to assuming our meat is being fully stunned when it is not!

Why shouldn't I get to choose. Do Islamic beliefs somehow trump other beliefs?

I’m not talking about the practice - or anything to do with how it is effected.

I am asking why the OP has decided that the MP in question is ‘Thick’ for calling for a law to be passed where one does not already exist.

Look for a green V.

If you don't see one, an animal has been unnecessarily cruelly killed.

HTH

I’m vegetarian but I’ve had a look at some of the packaging of my OH meat and I can’t see anywhere whether it is halal or not and It certainly isn’t obvious that there’s a code to check this information. I have no idea if the food in my son’s school is halal or not and couldn’t find any information on the website about it. I can’t recall going to a restaurant and it’s says on the menu or next to the dish that the meat is halal. People should have the information shared in an obvious way and It shouldn’t be on the consumer to have to do so much digging to find out. I don’t eat meat and I’m not religious but I do think people absolutely have the right for readily available information regarding where the meat comes from and whether it has been blessed for another religion. So YABU as clearly the law doesn’t appear to exist

This.
Op is having a pop at the MP when it is the OP who doesn't understand the issues.

I am affected because as a Christian, I want nothing to do with Islam. I don't want it trying to overrule and dominate, as it likes to do, and I certainly don't want animals killed barbarically in its name - at all and certainly not coming to my plate where I have been unwittingly stoking demand by simply buying meat.

A lot of people would be horrified to find out the meat they're eating is actually halal.

I stopped getting certain food from certain places- there were two issues, a particular flavour to the meat and a gradual realisation that it was probably halal. It’s been ages, so I can’t be specific- I think it was meat pizza, from local independent pizza/kebab/fried chicken shops.

We eat a lot of pork. It’s the recoverable stun that bothers me. I’m with Compassion in World Farming’

I haven’t ever once spotted the word halal or kosher on meat packaging before so if it is labelled, which I don’t believe it always is, then it needs to be very clear on the label, and put in its own section in the supermarket. And I don’t think school children or NHS patients should be duped into eating it either.

It needs banning. No animal should be made to suffer for religious reasons. It’s barbaric and cruel.

Why is it unnecessarily cruel to play a recording of a prayer through a tannoy while you stun and then kill an animal? You're still killing an animal for no reason.

Because even if they are stunned, it can only be a light stun so the animal can hear the prayer. So they still suffer. What part of that dont you understand?

How do you know how 'light' the stun they give them is. Unless you work in an abattoir?