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Thread: Will this harm NZ meat exports?

  1. #1
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    Default Will this harm NZ meat exports?

    More than 70 per cent of the New Zealand lamb sold in Britain comes from halal slaughterhouses without the fact being declared on the label.

    A spokesman said: ‘In New Zealand the process for halal slaughter is virtually the same as for non-halal slaughter.’

    He said there was no need to label the meat as halal on animal welfare grounds and it would too expensive to introduce labelling simply to provide the information.


    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz10XPm24m9
    It's not new news but based on recent events in the UK whereby Halal meat is being served in schools etc without people knowing, the fact that most NZ exported meat is killed by the Halal method has upset people again and are threatening to boycott our lamb. Do you think this will damage our export meat market?

    I'm not looking for a discussion on the rights and wrongs of this method of slaughter as I have my own personal beliefs, but I am concerned about the lack of information provided to most people both in NZ and overseas who do not realise that they are buying Halal slaughtered meat without choice.

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    I guess most people wouldn't care much and I doubt very much that Muslim prayers are actually being said for 70% of the animals that go to slaughter, despite what they may claim.

    Comments like this won't help though, as the UK buyer can be very fickle and if some celeb chef comes out and says it's all wrong, then you could be sure that lots of NZ lamb will be on special in Tescos next week.

    A spokesman said:there was no need to label the meat as halal on animal welfare grounds and it would too expensive to introduce labelling simply to provide the information.
    If it's too expensive to put a label on it then, I doubt whether any other 'unnecessary' expense is spared for prayers or special processing.

    It's like the discussion I heard a while back on NewsTalkZB radio, where people were phoning in to complain about Cadburys chocolate for having the halal logo on it. One old Kiwi guy was spouting off about how he wouldn't ever have anything Halal as it meant that contributions were being made towards Muslim terrorists.

    So they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

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    IIRC, most of NZ meat doesn't go to the UK anyway.

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    As a Christian, I would not be concerned about eating halal meat or any other, since everything is clean (despite the prayers). It does smack of favouritism on the part of the government though. Why halal and not kosher? I can understand trying to make meat headed for a Muslim country halal, or for a shipment to a halal butcher (if that is the correct term) in UK or elsewhere. But why do it all (or 70%)?

    Why would that be the default?

    And if halal slaughter must be performed by a Muslim (as I understand it), that would be discriminatory. And if required to be performed by a Muslim, but is not, that would be fraudulent.

    Seems to me the fellow raising the sheep should determine whether to sell to a kosher slaughterhouse, a halal slaughterhouse, or neither.

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    Quote Originally Posted by SueDonim View Post
    As a Christian, I would not be concerned about eating halal meat or any other, since everything is clean (despite the prayers). It does smack of favouritism on the part of the government though. Why halal and not kosher? I can understand trying to make meat headed for a Muslim country halal, or for a shipment to a halal butcher (if that is the correct term) in UK or elsewhere. But why do it all (or 70%)?

    Why would that be the default?

    And if halal slaughter must be performed by a Muslim (as I understand it), that would be discriminatory. And if required to be performed by a Muslim, but is not, that would be fraudulent.

    Seems to me the fellow raising the sheep should determine whether to sell to a kosher slaughterhouse, a halal slaughterhouse, or neither.
    Interestingly enough, Kosher slaughtering (Shechita) has recently been banned in New Zealand!

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    Quote Originally Posted by cappuccino View Post
    Interestingly enough, Kosher slaughtering (Shechita) has recently been banned in New Zealand!
    My understanding is that NZ law was recently changed so that all animals slaughtered in commercial premises have to be stunned before being slaughtered. In NZ, animals for Halal slaughtering are already pre-stunned, so the change in law does not affect the production of Halal meat here, but Kosher slaughtering in NZ does not use pre-stunning, hence the ban on Kosher slaughtering. Legal proceedings have now been filed against the Ministry of Agriculture, and a temporary exemption for Kosher slaughtering has been allowed until the matter comes to trial.

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    With half the lambs killed last week in the storms I doubt the halal isuue is very high on anybodies agenda.

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    Quote Originally Posted by cappuccino View Post
    Interestingly enough, Kosher slaughtering (Shechita) has recently been banned in New Zealand!
    As an animal lover and one of the few jews in NZ (though I no longer adhere to the religious aspects---but still ethnically entwined), I am VERY against kosher slaughter. I completely support the ban and hope it stands.

    What I find incredibly interesting is the big deal that is made out of this. Why?

    When was the last time you heard anyone make a big deal about the Kosher certifications that are on almost all American (and others too) food products?

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    Quote Originally Posted by GrumpyGoat View Post
    As an animal lover and one of the few jews in NZ (though I no longer adhere to the religious aspects---but still ethnically entwined), I am VERY against kosher slaughter. I completely support the ban and hope it stands.

    What I find incredibly interesting is the big deal that is made out of this. Why?

    When was the last time you heard anyone make a big deal about the Kosher certifications that are on almost all American (and others too) food products?
    My post was not about the rights and wrongs of ritual slaughter but about lack of information to the public. As I stated in the heading - 'Will this harm NZ meat exports?'

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    The way halal slaughter is done in NZ allows for reversibly stunning the animal before death, so there is not much difference between it and regular slaughter. The animal could conceivably wake up (an important point to religious folks), but the time between stunning and slaughter is so short that the animal will not wake up (an important point for welfare reasons).

    Because the Middle East is a recipient of a fair amount of lamb, that's just the way it's done. The countries that NZ exports to determine much of what goes on in NZ freezing works -- this is true whether the meat goes to the US, the EU, China or the Middle East.

    From what I've seen, the ritual slaughterer is a Muslim, is situated so that the animal is facing Mecca and is praying as the knife slits the animal's throat. It's a much better death than I thought it might be. What I saw was on a high-volume sheep processing line on the South Island.

    I don't know if you think people would object on humane grounds or due to anti-Muslim bias. On humane grounds, though, I don't think people have a case.

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