Lancashire Council became the first council to ban unstunned halal meat in school dinners.
After a bitter and impassioned debate which ran on for hours on Thursday afternoon, the Conservative-controlled council voted for the ban.
The campaign was fought between council leader Geoff Driver and part of the the local Muslim community.
In 2012, the council briefly stopped supplying halal meat to local schools over a production issue, but after children boycotted their school dinners, the unstunned meat was reinstated.
The council currently supplies 27 schools across the county with unstunned halal meat. According to research by the National Secular Society, four other local authorities use unstunned meat – Leeds, Bradford, Leicester, and Telford and Wrekin.
Many Muslims will not eat meat from animals which are pre-stunned, as they worry the stunning process could kill the animals, and eating meat from livestock which died before the ceremonial Halal slaughter process is “haram”, or forbidden.
In official documents, seen by The Telegraph, the council warned there could be financial implications if it lost school catering contracts due to a boycott, encouraged by the Lancashire Council of Mosques. The council is also fearful of negative local media coverage.
The council leader, Geoff Driver, pushed for the end of non-stunned halal meat in schools. He said: “This is an animal welfare issue, nothing more, nothing less. My concern that animals that are slaughtered without being pre-stunned go through a lot of stress and torment when they’re actually dying.”
There was wide uncertainty over which way the vote would go, with councillors not declaring what they would vote until the very last minute.
Mr Driver admitted to The Telegraph he had no idea whether or not he would win the vote, and hours before, local Labour councillor Terry Burns agonised over the decision, saying: “Obviously I’m against animal cruelty, but we need to weigh up the religious implications.”
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals advises slaughterhouses stun animals first, to reduce unnecessary suffering. However, the local Muslim community is sceptical about the charity’s guidance.
Abdul Qureshi, acting CEO of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, was advocating children boycott their school lunches if the vote went against him. He told The Telegraph: “[The RSPCA’s guidance] is most of the time based on feelings, it’s not scientifically conclusive.”
The RSPCA hit back at his claims. A spokesperson told The Telegraph: “ I utterly, completely refuse to cede that’s where our views come from. Ourselves, the British Veterinary Association and the Humane Slaughter Association signed a joint statement saying the only humane way to kill an animal is to stun it.
“There is countless scientific evidence showing that when an animal has its neck cut it feels quite considerable pain.
“The farm animal welfare council is of the opinion that the only humane way to kill an animal to stun it.
“You take New Zealand – everything is pre-stunned there, and it’s all Halal, it’s exported to countries in the Middle East and they all accept that it is Halal.
“We, for animal welfare reasons, would be quite happy if unstunned meat was banned across the UK.”
Mr Qureshi added that he was upset this was being debated, citing it as a “resolved issue”: “[The vote is] problematic, it was a resolved issue, it was raised again, the law allows the kosher and halal to be accepted. It’s lawful.
“The council agreed in 2013 – a report was produced, the schools were made free to choose, and that’s what everyone agreed.
“I think that looking at all those things, it was an amicably settled matter, so the vote is unecessary.
“I am not aware of any other council voting for these kinds of things, this council is the only one going against the British law on this matter.”
Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns director, commented: “The practice of imposing un-stunned meat from religious slaughter methods on pupils, public service users and the general populace is completely unacceptable, and needs to end. We commend Lancashire on its decision.
“As long as religious groups are granted an exemption from legislation aimed at ensuring animals do not suffer avoidable distress or pain, the number of animals killed under the exemption should be kept to an absolute minimum – and consumers must be able to avoid such products.
“A majority of Muslims accept non-stun slaughter and we would urge all schools and local authorities to resist being bullied into unethical and regressive policy decisions by fundamentalist faith leaders claiming to speak on behalf of all Muslims.
“The time has come to abolish the religious exemption that allows animals to be slaughtered without pre-stunning. Religious freedom should be supported, but this is not an absolute right. Exemptions should not be made on religious grounds to animal welfare regulations intended to ensure that farm animals are slaughtered under the most humane conditions possible.”
