Yesterday I listened to a discussion about “halal” and “kosher” meat. One of the persons in the discussion was a big mouth who clearly had not sorted out the facts.
First of all, over here in The Netherlands animals only may be slaughtered by trained people… no matter of halal or kosher guidelines are followed. And it only may be done at places that are authorized for this. Punishments are severe for those that act against the laws on this matter.
A well trained and experienced halal/kosher butcher kills the animal in one move and in such a way that the animal is instantly dead. All the blood looks very unpleasant, but it is something the animals itself is not aware of any more.
The period before the slaughter the animal is treated very well. This is very important in my opinion so the last moment comes sudden and with less stress.
This compared to our “normal” slaughter-houses is a complete story. The transport of the animals is extreme stressful and very often things go really wrong during these transports (broken legs and worse). Our slaughterhouses are factories were animals are slaughtered is as high as possible speed against as less possible costs. Often… VERY often things go wrong. Animals are not dead when they are processed. The moments before they are slaughtered are extreme stressful. Animals that are wounded after transport are treated very bad.
Having said all this: No, I am not specially in favour for Halal and Kosher slaughtering of animals. But people should not tell nonsense and act like our “normal” way of slaughtering animals is so good (while it is not).
