American Olympic Team & Christian Athletes to be Fed with Halal Meat

From Tesco email:
"In every case, the animal is stunned before slaughter so that it is insensible and feels no pain."

"In these cases, all of our processes still meet the same stringent animal welfare requirements and all animals are stunned prior to slaughter whether the meat is sold as Halal or non-Halal."

So the problem is what, exactly?
So an animal can be stunned and electrocuted (chicken) or have a bolt killer put through it's brain (cow, pig), as long as it does not have it's throat cut (which will happen after slaughter anyway)

Does anyone want to address my Kosher point apart from Freddie19 or is Kosher food and lobster thermidor and crab cakes are OK because the people killing and eating it are less brown? Lobsters and crabs aren't cute? Is anyone jumping up and down because hot dog sausages are not labelled as Kosher?
 
Last edited:
CaveCanem said:
Does anyone want to address my Kosher point apart from Freddie19 or is Kosher food and lobster thermidor and crab cakes are OK because the people killing and eating it are less brown? Lobsters and crabs aren't cute? Is anyone jumping up and down because hot dog sausages are not labelled as Kosher?
Click to expand...

Ok, I will bite, I truly object to you making this a race - or more to the point - a colour issue! I would also like to point out that millions of Muslims are actually white! this has NOTHING to do with race, culture or religion. I get so annoyed when a person cannot have an opinion on what they eat, without being told they are being racist! For the record, I do not eat lobster because of how it is killed, or crab for that matter. As far as I know I have not eaten kosher foods, but isn't this the debate we are having, how would we often know exactly what we are eating?
 
But it is a race and religion thing, I did not make it so - I don't recall any hoo-haa about Kosher food.

What exactly is the difference between stunning an animal and then shoving a bolt through it's brain, zapping it with a high voltage current, or slitting it's throat and letting it bleed out?
The animals die to go on our plates. They just die in slightly different ways and are stunned beforehand.

I don't give a hoot either way to be honest, black, white, brown, crabs, cows, chickens, I will eat most things, within reason, my father worked in slaughterhouses for years, I know exactly what goes on and I am happy with welfare standards on these islands.

What I don't like is double standards and hypocrisy.

Oh and I think the OP made it a race and religion thing:
"Christian Athletes who are being forced fed Islamic meat in the Olympic village like the American team!"
 
Last edited:
CaveCanem said:
But it is a race and religion thing, I did not make it so - I don't recall any hoo-haa about Kosher food.
Click to expand...

I haven’t scoured the internet or forums for this, so couldn’t say if there was or was not. I have answered today’s debate.

CaveCanem said:
What exactly is the difference between stunning an animal and then shoving a bolt through it's brain, zapping it with a high voltage current, or slitting it's throat and letting it bleed out?....
Click to expand...
If there was no difference then surely Muslims would eat non-halal meat…clearly there IS a difference in how people perceive it, isn’t there.
CaveCanem said:
Oh and I think the OP made it a race and religion thing:.....

"Christian Athletes who are being forced fed Islamic meat in the Olympic village like the American team!"
Click to expand...

I am not the OP, I am merely putting my own views forward. I know I am not a racist, so I object to being lumped in as one, just because someone else may be.
 
HBM1 said:
I will ensure I make it using Halal meats/eggs/fish etc.
Click to expand...

How does that work - you quietly & respectfully slit the shell & let the white & yolk drain out in order to limit the egg's suffering & pain?

A quick question about Halal meat -

The Koran (or Q'uran) provides guidance on what followers of Islam can & cannot eat, hence the method of slaughtering animals under discussion. Yet the Koran also states that "The food of the People of the Book [Jews and Christians] is lawful for you as your food is lawful for them." So that would suggest that Halal meat is actually desirable where available rather than necessary, would it not?

TESCO said:
We sell Halal meat in our stores to meet customer demand and to demonstrate that everyone is welcome at Tesco.
Click to expand...
In my experience, those wishing to buy Halal meat will be more likely to go to a Halal butcher where it is clear that the meat is Halal, rather than a Supermarket where it is not clear!!
 
MagicMelon said:
There's nothing racist about this post at all?! The arguement is that why should we ALL have to eat halal meat? I dont like my choice being taken away, by them not labelling meat. Im horrified that so much supermarket meat is halal as standard, thats ridiculous.
Click to expand...

As above !
 
CaveCanem said:
From Tesco email:
"In every case, the animal is stunned before slaughter so that it is insensible and feels no pain."

"In these cases, all of our processes still meet the same stringent animal welfare requirements and all animals are stunned prior to slaughter whether the meat is sold as Halal or non-Halal."

So the problem is what, exactly?
So an animal can be stunned and electrocuted (chicken) or have a bolt killer put through it's brain (cow, pig), as long as it does not have it's throat cut (which will happen after slaughter anyway)

Does anyone want to address my Kosher point apart from Freddie19 or is Kosher food and lobster thermidor and crab cakes are OK because the people killing and eating it are less brown? Lobsters and crabs aren't cute? Is anyone jumping up and down because hot dog sausages are not labelled as Kosher?
Click to expand...

I don't eat crab/lobster because I think the method of killing is horrendously cruel.

I believe people should have the informed choice about what meat to purchase and eat with regards to how it is killed. I would prefer to eat stunned and bolted meat over stunned and throat cut meat, purely because if the stunning goes wrong the bolt back up is much quicker than the bleed to death option.
 
CaveCanem said:
You don't have to be horrified, just buy your meat from a local butcher instead of a supermarket....where it will be killed with a bolt through it's head instead....
Click to expand...

I will do.

You are kind of missing the point about informed choice though, there is no reason halal killed meat couldn't/shouldn't be indicated on the labelling.
 
I would certainly like to have the choice, I buy free range eggs by choice because I dont like the way battery hens are treated, so should be able to choose my meat likewise
 
I don't think it is racist not wishing others religious views/beliefs being forced upon you without your knowledge.

If I were visiting a Muslim country I would expect to have to eat halal meat as this is their choice. I don't expect to have to eat it without my prior knowledge and consent in this country.

I expect to be given a choice over what I eat.
 
Lord, its common knowledge that the vast majority of meat bought in supermarkets is halal. If you want to be sure it isn't by from a local farmer. Incidentally, most peoples' grandparents were eating meat which we would call halal now - stunning animals before their thoats are cut is a relatively modern practice. Are we all going to shout at our grannies for being cruel???
 
I personally cant believe they get away with this.

Produce is labelled according to how it is kept these days, eg eggs from barn or free range.

How dare they sell something like this without labelling it. Its nothing to do with racism, people should have the choice. I bet if they labelled it sales would go through the floor.

I'm veggie but meat does come into my house, it wont be coming from these sources again. I complained when my daughter school started using only Halal, as did most other parents.

On this one I would support anyone choosing to take them on, must be worth a campaign from one of the groups.
 
I don't know how they slaughter animals for consumption in the UK, but here they use a captive bolt gun which shoots a bolt into their brain. It's not a very nice death either, yet everyone happily eats their steak, pork and lamb.

Because I eat meat that hasn't been humanely killed, I don't think that I'm in a position to freak out because of another way to do it. I eat Kosher food and enjoy it and frankly don't care what kind of prayer the animal listened to on it's way out. It all tastes the same to me.
 
humane slaughter is a myth. All sluaghter is violent. If you are so worried about what you are eating and how it was reared, fattened and killed do what I did...become vegetarian! Why does GB pamper and pander to the minorities?
 
CaveCanem said:
But it is a race and religion thing, I did not make it so - I don't recall any hoo-haa about Kosher food.

What exactly is the difference between stunning an animal and then shoving a bolt through it's brain, zapping it with a high voltage current, or slitting it's throat and letting it bleed out?
The animals die to go on our plates. They just die in slightly different ways and are stunned beforehand.

I don't give a hoot either way to be honest, black, white, brown, crabs, cows, chickens, I will eat most things, within reason, my father worked in slaughterhouses for years, I know exactly what goes on and I am happy with welfare standards on these islands.

What I don't like is double standards and hypocrisy.

Oh and I think the OP made it a race and religion thing:
"Christian Athletes who are being forced fed Islamic meat in the Olympic village like the American team!"
Click to expand...

Completely agree with this, you are spot on, the majority of those that are kicking up are hypocrites.
 
If people want cheap meat and other fresh food items outside of the growing season (which can include meat) then they need to accept they do not have a choice on how/where it has been dealt with. I agree that all animal husbandry should be humane and they shouldn't be crammed in and duffed up by people for a laugh, but in order to provide what people want on a budget something has to give.

There is a choice - you just have to pay a bit more or search a bit harder for it and accept that for 6 months of the year you can't eat it fresh.

As someone else has said, halal type practices (minus the blessing) have happened for 10's of years. Sometimes I have to wonder how much of the aversion to halal is not necessarily because of the slaughter, but because of the religion it belongs to - all because of a militant minority... As also remarked on, there is no mention of kosher meat whereby no method of stunning is allowed, yet hahal at least allows it before slaughter.
 
glennmiller said:
http://boycotthalal.com/halal-menu-olympics/

Some of these suppliers process all their meat to Halal standards. For example, all New Zealand lamb meet’s Halal standards. And all British lamb and chicken is Halal. In these cases all processes still meet the same stringent animal welfare requirements it is claimed and some animals are stunned prior to slaughter whether the meat is sold as Halal or non-Halal but all is Islamically blessed so it can be used for both the Muslim and non-Muslim market.
Click to expand...

Then I am afraid it is not Halal as Muslims are not allowed to stun before slaughtering. I have asked this question of several Muslims and the answer is always the same, not Halal if it's been stunned first, it must be alive and moving when slaugtered :(. None of my Muslim friends or their families would dream of buying Halal meat from a supermarkt for this very reason and all buy from Halal butchers.
 
There has been a heck of a lot of fuss about cloned meat, and it not being allowed into the food chain, and genetically modified wheat etc. That has to be labelled, so why not halal meat ?
 
CaveCanem said:
But it is a race and religion thing, I did not make it so - I don't recall any hoo-haa about Kosher food.

What exactly is the difference between stunning an animal and then shoving a bolt through it's brain, zapping it with a high voltage current, or slitting it's throat and letting it bleed out?
The animals die to go on our plates. They just die in slightly different ways and are stunned beforehand.

I don't give a hoot either way to be honest, black, white, brown, crabs, cows, chickens, I will eat most things, within reason, my father worked in slaughterhouses for years, I know exactly what goes on and I am happy with welfare standards on these islands.

What I don't like is double standards and hypocrisy.

Oh and I think the OP made it a race and religion thing:
"Christian Athletes who are being forced fed Islamic meat in the Olympic village like the American team!"
Click to expand...

Yep. The people who make a big fuss about halal never mention kosher meat.

Frankly, from what I've read, the conditions in many large US slaughter houses are nightmarish, and that's without halal practices.

Fairynuff is right.
 
I work for a frozen food company and last year found out that all the meat is halal, what really makes me sick is that none of it is labelled as such and a far as halal goes, the meat is only blessed after humane slaughter so not really halal either, yet they have a range that is sold as halal. needless to say as I don't really know what I am eating I don't touch any of it now!
 
snopuma said:
I work for a frozen food company and last year found out that all the meat is halal,

what really makes me sick is that none of it is labelled as such and a far as halal goes, the meat is only blessed after humane slaughter so not really halal either,
Click to expand...

So....it was slaughtered humanely and is not really halal in your own words - so why would it be labelled as such, and why does it make you sick?
 
Good news.

Morrisons seem to be the only supermarket that sells 100% fresh, British,non halal meat.

Some of its frozen meat may be halal and they do sell branded Halal and Kosher lines but otherwise this is one supermarket that isn't secretly giving customers no ethical choice.
Perhaps that's why Morrison's meat tastes so good, Asda and Tesco meat is insipid.

Secretly selling Kosher isn't a problem, as those who want Kosher products need to ensure that the food is correctly labelled, otherwise they wouldn't buy it.

I don't think anyone is saying don't sell halal or kosher, just put a label on it and allow consumers a choice.
 
ihatework said:
That is really quite scary - I would never voluntarily choose to consume halal meat yet am being mis-led into doing just that? Yet another reason only to buy meat locally.

.
Click to expand...
Interesting, but animals are slaughtered in UK slaughter houses under UK standards, the heads are cut off and presumably go to pet foods, the blood has to be drained out of the meat or it would be indedible, however I don't think any misguided person chanting some religious dogma is going to put me off eating meat, if it is a sop to the muslims and others who eat halal meat , I don't care.
By the way if you want to see religious ritual slaughter banned think about kocher killing, now that is pretty inhumane, but I don't hear protests about that.
 
Miss L Toe said:
Interesting, but animals are slaughtered in UK slaughter houses under UK standards, the heads are cut off and presumably go to pet foods, the blood has to be drained out of the meat or it would be indedible, however I don't think any misguided person chanting some religious dogma is going to put me off eating meat, if it is a sop to the muslims and others who eat halal meat , I don't care.
By the way if you want to see religious ritual slaughter banned think about kocher killing, now that is pretty inhumane, but I don't hear protests about that.
Click to expand...

But no one here is protesting against halal or kosher meat, that's another topic entirely. The issue is about labelling and choice.

Having just read some British univeristy backed research about how long it takes for an animal that hasn't been stunned to die - and to stop struggling, I for one will ensure that all meat I eat is definitely not halal or kosher.
Interestingly, stunning doesn't automatically mean stunned before being cut, it may mean that it has been stunned after, but before death.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top