I do hope that everybody getting all angry over halal meat also refuses to eat any meat unless they've first confirmed it was produced according to organic production standards (assuming they eat meat at all, of course). And that those worried about halal food in schools would also insist on school meals containing organic meat only.If, as a meat-eater, you criticise halal or kosher methods of slaughter, and then go on to pay for meat which has been "conventionally" slaughtered but not produced organically, you might want to reconsider your priorities, as you will be financing a system which is infinitely more cruel than the few moments it takes an animal to die in the slaughterhouse, conscious or otherwise.I'm no fan of a painful death for animals, but I'm much more concerned about animals living months or years of a tortured, painful life before their death.Even so called "free range" meat is produced from animals that live in unpleasantly restricted circumstances. Only organic meat production standards (which don't just dictate what animals are fed) actually _require_ providing animals with room to live and move in that might be considered humane.And for those who like to jump on the halal issue in order to give vent to their religious and racial prejudices from behind a transparent veil of respectability, be aware that this applies ESPECIALLY to pork, which is forbidden by both of those traditions. Pigs, being significantly more intelligent animals than most livestock, suffer immensely in intensive farming conditions. They develop stress-related mental illnesses, tics, etc, and live an utterly miserable life.Apart from this affecting the quality of the meat that ends up in the supermarket, it's more cruel by far than a world full of halal slaughterhouses.(An exception can probably be made here for lamb and mutton - which generally can't be produced using the same intensive methods that other mainstream meats are often produced by. And, of course, game, which is generally wild).None of this is to say that halal and kosher slaughter are reasonable or acceptable or beyond criticism. Nor that meat produced inorganically is by definition produced by cruel methods (although unless you know the details of the source, you can safely bet that it was). But if you've got a bee in your bonnet about halal and kosher for animal welfare reasons, yet spend your money in the supermarket on their standard lines of meat products (i.e. those produced by cruel methods) then perhaps a rearrangement of priorities is in order.
Max ● 4914d