Kosher, halal slaughter vs. animal welfare concerns

Benjamín Ruiz: "This whole issue questions religious freedom and the right of religions to preserve their traditions."

Ruiz B 90x90 Headshot
(Associação Brasileira de Proteína Animal, ABPA)
(Associação Brasileira de Proteína Animal, ABPA)

Debates that occur in parts of the world with a much greater degree of multiculturalism than that of Latin America are quite compelling.

Currently, animal production − poultry included − is again the focus of attention, in particular, processing plants.

It turns out that in Europe there is an increasingly important population of Muslims which, along with the Jewish population, make up two groups that require certain religious rituals that involve bleeding the animal through a cut in the neck without stunning. This is their tradition, period, and I do not question it.

The issue is that the animal welfare groups, and even the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe, consider that slaughtering animals without prior stunning is brutal and unacceptable due to the stress it generates in terms of animal welfare, without taking into account what are the religious precepts of Jews and Muslims (which, I admit, I do not know).

Several countries have already banned this type of animal slaughtering, even for religious reasons. Others do allow those exceptions. The fact is that these measures are causing serious problems with people of these faiths, which have even led to "an unusual alliance between their representatives [Muslims and Jews],” according to the Spanish newspaper El País.

This whole issue questions religious freedom and the right of religions to preserve their traditions. But also, I think it puts on the rack a part of the poultry industry (as well as other animal agriculture industries) because it cannot serve this important segment of the population.

Here politics, religion, the animal movement (which is part of politics), liberties and other aspects are mixed. And at the bottom of the list is the battered animal production industry and the consumers. And all for what? In the end, chickens will die anyway in the slaughter line and we will eat them.

What do you think

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