In an article for The Independent, former Conservative MEP Stanley Johnson has called for mandatory labelling of meat that comes from animals that have been slaughtered without pre-stunning. Currently UK law requires all animals to be stunned prior to slaughter, except when the animals are being ritually slaughtered for halal or kosher meat. The British Humanist Association (BHA) campaigns for the end to this exemption, and has welcomed Mr Johnson’s call as moving the debate in the right direction.
Mr Johnson was the Founder-Chairman of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals, and as a consequence received the RSPCA Richard Martin Award for Outstanding Services to animal welfare. In his article where he advocates for mandatory labelling, he points out that ‘The EU Commission at present is investigating just such an option but it’s likely to be a long time coming.’
In fact in 2010 and 2011 the European Parliament repeatedly passed legislation requiring labelling of ritually slaughtered meat, but the European Council (made up of the heads of EU states) blocked the measures each time. Eventually a compromise was reached whereby a more widescale review of the matter would be conducted, and the BHA gave oral evidence to the scoping phase of this review. However, when the report was published in 2015, finding that 72% of respondents to the survey conducted supported labelling, it still did not recommend a change in the law, due to the strength of opposition from some quarters.
As a result the matter was passed back to the European Commission to decide how to proceed, where it remains. But with the UK now planning to leave the EU, it is unclear whether any regulations would affect the UK, or for how long. As a result, Mr Johnson calls for the British Government to take the initiative on the matter.
About 80% of halal meat is stunned before slaughter, so such a change would only affect a minority of halal. No kosher is stunned before slaughter, although as there is less kosher meat than halal, it is still the case that more halal is not stunned. In total about 650,000 animals are slaughtered without stunning in Britain each week.
BHA Campaigns Manager Richy Thompson commented, ‘A wide variety of bodies, including the RSPCA, the British Veterinary Association, the Humane Slaughter Association, and even the Government’s own Farm Animal Welfare Committee, oppose non-stunned meat as inhumane, and we agree. We welcome Stanley Johnson’s call for mandatory labelling of such meat. Like many, we recognise that much wider changes are needed to improve animal welfare than simply labelling ritually slaughtered meat. But if this change is made, it would be a positive first step.’
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For further comment or information, please contact BHA Campaigns Manager Richy Thompson at richy@humanists.uk or on 0207324 3072.
Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on animal welfare: https://humanists.uk/campaigns/public-ethical-issues/animal-welfare/
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.