As a consumer would you pay more for a certain product simply because it has been ethically sourced?
Does it matter where your food comes from?
UK law requires that all life stock be stunned prior to slaughter so as not to inflict pain or suffering on animals. If you knew your meat was Halal meat and had been slaughtered by a cut to the throat where the blood is left to drain out, instead of being stunned to numb the pain first does it matter to you?
Would you pay more for meat that had been slaughtered in a way that is seen as a more humane method by British law?
If you're wondering what Hala meat actually is, then this bit is for you!
Halal meat is prepared in accordance with Sharia law and requires the cutting of an animals throat, without stunning the animal first during which process Islamic verses are recited.
Would it change your opinion to know that in January this method of Halal meat was discussed at the World Secure Food Chain Conference in Hong Kong, where research showed that non-stunned animal's killed by the Halal methods actually produced healthier meat that had a longer shelf life.
Does knowing this fact make it more ethical? As the meat gained by this particular slaughter method will not only last longer so hopefully not get wasted, but it will also go further! feeding more people in the process!
On a final note, whats to say the method used in accordance to British law doesn't in fact cause the animal discomfort! Its been stunned through the brain?! Maybe a quick cut to the throat is more ethical, what do you think?
Personally I think the Halal method is better if it means that there is less waste of the meat. Surely it doesn't effect the taste of the meat, does it? It makes me laugh in a weird way how people are less than interested in the fact that these animals were born and reared for the purpose and often don't live in 'humane' conditions and they don't seem bothered by that, but then demand the right for the animal to be killed in a way that causes the animal least pain and like you said whats to say they aren't in pain when they get a needle or whatever in the head. I just read something the other day about MPs being angry over the fact that the meat they ate was Halal. So maybe in the interest of keeping people happy the meat should be labelled, actually this should be said of all foods, this way the consumer can ethically source all their groceries! And on a final note, I'm just glad I'm a vegetarian :)
ReplyDeleteAs a meat eater, I agree with Louise that it is more important that animals are raised humanely than how they are killed. I am a beater on a pheasant shoot, and have on many occasions had to break the neck of a shot pheasant which is still alive when brought back to me by my Labrdaor. But, given the choice of being totally free range yet fed by corn feeders, bred for the purpose, and having a 50-50 chance of surviving a shooting season to breed, I know which one I would prefer to be. Pheasant, any day over chicken!
ReplyDeleteBut, I wonder how much of the anti-Halal stuff is actuallty just anti-muslim feeling? Death by sanguination (bleeding out) is actually not as painful as having a bolt bashed through your head, which is how cattle are "stunned".
Thanks for your comments!
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow meat eater myself I agree with you both. Your point about labelling food Louise I totally agree with! This should be something that is done ALL the time isn't it. Consumers should know exactly where their food is coming from then they can make a conscious decision using all the facts.
Rather you than me Catherine! I don't think I could bring myself to snap the neck of a pheasant! I remember when my dog caught a squirrel, hurt it to the extent its back legs were paralysed, neither my mum or I had the courage or guts to put it out of its misery so to speak so ended up driving it to the vets 10 mins away! Don’t worry we know the vets/people there well, so they didn’t think we were looney, plus they take wild animals to rehabilitate/put down.
I’m so glad u brought that point up as well Catherine; unfortunately I think that this may well be why people don't like the idea of Halal meat i.e. Anti Muslim not Method, which is sad.
Another way to look at it though maybe, that people are just resistance to change. Despite the fact no-one really knows about the method and just looks at the 'bad' side of slitting the cattle's throat and draining the blood, they aren't willing to hear the facts, that it actually is potentially a more ethical way of slaughter, in the sense it causes less pain than a bolt through the head!
Do you think it could just be this stubbornness to change i.e. people are happy with the way it’s done and don’t see a reason for change?