A bill to introduce compulsory labeling of halal and kosher meat and products containing halal and kosher meat has passed its first reading in the UK commons.
MP Esther McVey, who brought the bill on Tuesday, said it is about animal welfare, transparency in meat production and consumer choice, and does not seek to ban halal or kosher meat.
Currently, consumers do not have that information, and many may purchase and consume halal and kosher meat without their knowledge and agreement, the bill claimed.
Both halal and kosher slaughter require the animal to have its throat slit. In the case of halal meat, the animal is often stunned before it is killed; however, shechita, killing for kosher meat, does not involve stunning.
McVey argued that the lack of stunning causes the animal to experience severe pain, and an individual concerned about animal welfare would want to know if the animal has been stunned prior to slaughter.
Under existing laws, animals must be stunned before they are killed, but exemptions exist for killing without stunning in accordance with specific religious rites. Added to that, there are currently no requirements for such meat to be labeled.
According to government figures, 214.6 million of the 1.035 billion animals processed in English and Welsh slaughterhouses in 2024 were slaughtered to produce halal meat. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the proportion of meat supplied by non-stun slaughter is about four times greater than the proportion of Muslims and Jews in the UK, despite the government mandating that meat that results from non-stun slaughter “must be intended for consumption by Jews or Muslims.”
Additionally, the production of non-stunned meat is cheaper, so supermarkets and food outlets can purchase that cheaper meat without ever declaring it to the customer. According to McVey, supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, and Asda, and restaurant chains like Domino’s, Pizza Hut, and KFC have sold halal or kosher meat without informing the consumer.
McVey also criticized Labour‘s recently introduced animal welfare strategy, which includes the banning of boiling live lobsters, banning the use of carbon dioxide to stun pigs, and steps to ensure the more humane slaughter of farmed fish, but does not mention kosher or halal slaughter.
However, Shimon Cohen, campaign director of Shechita UK, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that the bill seemingly aims to target halal slaughter rather than kosher slaughter, as the claims of widespread consumption and exports of meat do not apply to kosher meat. Less than 0.5% of the total animals slaughtered for food in the UK are through shechita.
He noted that kosher slaughter is done in small quantities, and is a community service not a consumer business.
In a statement, Shechita UK rejected the claim that the animal is in extreme pain, claiming that the immediate cessation of cerebral perfusion, producing an effective stun, ensures the animal is instantly insensible to pain, followed thereafter by death.
Shechita UK directer concerned over singling out of kosher slaughter
Shechita UK also added that, historically speaking, the mechanical stunning methods were not introduced over concern for animal welfare, rather, mechanical stunning methods were introduced for economic efficiency as they enabled increased speeds in factory abattoirs.
“Unfortunately, opposition to shechita has historically come from xenophobia or antisemitism, or from misinformation around animal welfare facts.”
Shechita UK said it fully supports the idea that consumers have every right to know what they are eating, and that all kosher meat is labelled under the “hechsher system.” However, it said that if the method of slaughter is to be used as an input in any labeling, it should be part of a holistic labeling system assessing the whole life and slaughter of the animal.
“We have no issue with labeling food, as Jews we invented the whole concept of food labeling,” Cohen told the Post.
However he queried why McVey is only seeking to label two types of animal slaughter, when there are 14 methods in total. The 14 methods of pre-slaughter and killing are: Penetrative Captive Bolt; Non-penetrative Captive Bolt; Electrical Head-only Stunning (Tongs); Electrical Water Bath Stunning; Head-to-body Electrical Stunning; Gas Stunning; Percussive Blow to the Head; Mechanical Cervical Dislocation; Free Bullet/Firearm; Bleeding (Exsanguination) after Stunning; Pithing; Gas Killing; Electrical Killing; Religious Slaughter (Non-stun and stun).
“If this was about animal welfare, people should also get to know if their meat was electrocuted or water bathed. If the intention was just food labeling, you should label all of them,” he added.
Instead, he believes the intention is to “stigmatize minority communities.”
Cohen sent a letter to McVey (shared with the Post) in which he encouraged her to approach the Jewish community and its practices with “care, accuracy and sensitivity.”
He also asked her not to castigate kosher meat, “an absolute staple of Jewish life in this country and the product of a method that certainly complies fully with the highest animal welfare standards.”