What is halal meat and is it cruel?

Muslim MPs clashed with the former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe during a Westminster Hall debate on halal slaughter this week. Lowe, now an independent, criticised what he called halal's "vile practices" that would "turn the stomach of any decent person", reported Hyphen, but Yasmin Qureshi, a Labour MP, said a lot of opposition to halal was not about "animal welfare" but "prejudice, plain and simple".

Halal meat is a key element of Islamic dietary laws, covering not only the types of animal that can be consumed by practising Muslims but also the way in which those animals are killed.

Halal slaughter is intended to be a humane, ethical and hygienic method of dispatching animals raised for consumption, yet the practice – which traditionally does not include the animal being pre-stunned before death – has consistently been criticised by animal-welfare groups as unnecessarily cruel.

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European and UK laws both say animals must be stunned before slaughter, with exceptions for halal and kosher meats. Even so, 88% of animals slaughtered for halal meat in the UK are stunned first, according to the RSPCA.

What is halal meat?

Halal is a word regularly used to refer to food, specifically the slaughter and preparation of meat, by non-Muslim people. But its meaning is more far-reaching.

"Halal" translates as "permissible" in Arabic, and refers to any action or behaviour that is allowed in Islam, including what types of meat and methods of preparation are acceptable. Conversely, "haram" refers to impermissible or unlawful actions.

Which foods are haram?

The distinction between halal and haram foods is "not only rooted in religious beliefs but also reflects a commitment to ethical consumption and spiritual purity", said the Halal Food Council USA.

In the context of dietary rules, the Koran specifically prohibits the consumption of pork and its by-products, and blood, which is considered impure. Animals not killed by ritual slaughter or which have died before being slaughtered, are considered carrion meat, and therefore haram. Islam also prohibits the consumption of animals that are predatory in nature or have talons – as they might feed on other animals – including birds of prey, reptiles and carnivorous animals such as lions and tigers.

Alcohol and intoxicating substances, and foods that use them as ingredients, are also haram, as they are believed to "cloud judgment, impair rational thinking", and lead to "sinful behaviour", said the Halal Food Council USA.

How is halal meat prepared?

God's name must be invoked in a one-line blessing called the Tasmiyah, said before any slaughter. British Halal Food Authority slaughtermen use the most common version, “Bismillahi-Allahu Akbar” (In the name of Allah the greatest).

Reciting a short blessing beginning with “bismillah” (in the name of Allah) is a prerequisite for Muslims before embarking on any significant task. Orthodox Jews recite similar everyday blessings, including a prayer used before performing kosher slaughter.

The Islamic method of killing an animal for meat is called zabiha. After reciting the blessing, the slaughterman uses a surgically sharp instrument to cut the animal's throat, windpipe and the blood vessels around its neck. The blood is then allowed to drain from the body.

Only one animal can be ritually slaughtered at a time and the other animals must not witness any death.

The religious law also says how the animal must be treated during its life, with bans on mistreatment or causing any pain. It must also be provided with enough space to roam, clean water, food and fresh air.

Some animals killed for halal meat in the UK are stunned electrically before their throats are slit, known as “pre-stunned slaughter”. The British Halal Food Authority approves of low-voltage electrified water baths to stun poultry, and electric-tong stunning for sheep and goats.

However, it is forbidden to use methods of stunning that can actually kill the animal, such as bolt guns.

Do the animals feel pain?

Outside religions, non-stunned slaughter was widely abandoned in the 20th century and is increasingly perceived as cruel. But non-stunned slaughter continues to be permitted for religious purposes, and the question of whether it is more or less humane than other forms is a matter of debate.

Some studies suggest religious slaughter can be as "humane as good conventional slaughter methods" when performed "properly", said the Islamic Services of America.

Writing in The Guardian in 2014, Shuja Shafi and Jonathan Arkush agreed, arguing that traditional methods of stunning, using a captive bolt, gas or electricity, only paralyse the animal so it cannot move, and do not reduce suffering. "It is impossible to know whether the animal is feeling pain or not," they said.

In both Muslim and Jewish religious slaughter, the act of slitting the throat "results in the immediate loss of consciousness", they added, and “there is no delay between stun and subsequent death”.

Animal-health experts and campaigners disagree. The RSPCA argues that killing animals without stunning them causes them to "experience suffering and distress", and has urged the UK government to ensure all animals are unconscious when slaughtered. Activist group Peta said that although religious slaughter was "probably more humane than any other existing alternative" thousands of years ago, that the "world has changed drastically since then" and the practice leaves animals "terrified" and in "unimaginably agonising" pain when their throats are slit. However, it also argues that no slaughter for meat is humane.

The British Veterinary Association calls for all animals to be effectively stunned before slaughter because of the "pain, suffering and distress" experienced during the cut and bleeding. In 2003, The Farm Animal Welfare Council said that cutting an animal's throat is "such a massive injury [that it] would result in very significant pain and distress in the period before insensibility supervenes".

In March, the issue hit the headlines when The Independent reported that staff at a halal abattoir in Warwickshire "slammed sheep hard" onto concrete floors and played recordings of wolves to the "terrified" animals as they were dying.

Sheep were "inadequately killed", it reported, and showed "signs of life and suffering" for up to four minutes after their throats were cut and when workers started dismembering them.

How does halal differ from kosher practice?

Unlike halal, the Jewish method of slaughter, known as shechita, cannot involve pre-slaughter stunning at all.

Its proponents say the use of a chalaf, a surgically sharp instrument twice the width of the animal's neck, by practitioners who have trained for a minimum of seven years, "swiftly renders the animal unconscious", said The Jewish Chronicle –but animal campaigners say it is unnecessarily cruel and, said The Spectator, halal and kosher practices are the "most inhumane" of the methods of slaughter that are "commonplace" in Britain.

How is halal meat regulated?

Both European and UK law "requires animals to be stunned before being killed", though there are exemptions for religious slaughter in approved abattoirs, said the BBC.

A ban on non-stunned slaughter came into effect in Belgium in 2019 and was upheld in the European Court of Human Rights after challenges by religious groups last year. Belgian ministers argued that there was "considerable strength of feeling on the issue". Ben Weyts, Flemish minister for animal welfare said the upheld ban meant the "door is open for a ban on ritual slaughter not only in Brussels but in the whole of Europe".

Other countries including Iceland, Estonia, Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark already have existing laws against non-stunned slaughter. However, Jewish groups say that these bans "invalidate their religious practices" and force them to import kosher meat from overseas, said The Jewish Chronicle.

The British government has repeatedly resisted pressure from animal welfare groups such as the RSPCA to outlaw halal slaughter without pre-stunning, and opposed EU measures that would have required meat to carry labels confirming whether it came from animals that had been stunned before slaughter on the grounds they discriminated against Muslim and Jewish groups.

How does this work in practice?

In a highly publicised case in 2018, Lancashire County Council became the first local authority to ban unstunned halal meat in school dinners.

Following an impassioned and, at times, bitter campaign between the then council leader Geoff Driver and the local Muslim community, the Conservative-controlled council narrowly voted for the ban.

The decision prompted calls for Muslim students to boycott school lunches, and provoked a war of words between Muslim leaders, the council and animal rights groups.

Lancashire Council of Mosques accused Driver of leading a "crusade" on the issue and its acting chair, Abdul Qureshi, said any decision to ban unstunned halal meat would create huge difficulty.

"People will pull out of school meals and people who should eat properly will be deprived of that. For us, it's a matter of faith. For Geoff Driver it is his feelings," he told the BBC.

Is halal meat more widespread than we think?

According to one of Britain's foremost vets, many non-Muslim Britons are inadvertently eating meat from animals slaughtered while they are still conscious.

Lord Trees, a former president of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, said that, with the sharp rise in the number of sheep and poultry being killed in accordance with halal practice, it was highly probable that some unstunned meat was entering the "standard" food chain, mainly in pies and ready meals.

"It's very difficult to have accurate traceability when meat may go through the food chain and pass through several different people's hands. Various parts of it will go in all sorts of directions into different food chains and different processing systems, often different countries," he wrote in the journal Vet Record, according to the Daily Mail.

Awal Fuseini, senior sector manager at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, told Farmers Weekly that the halal meat market in the UK is one that farmers and processors can no longer ignore.

"Even though Muslims represent just 6.5% of the population, currently, 72% of the sheep slaughtered in England and Wales are killed according to halal processes", as well a 56% of goats, 5% of calves and 4% of cattle.

How much is the halal meat industry worth?

According to a report by the Halal Monitoring Committee and the University of Huddersfield featured on Islamic economy insights platform Salaam Gateway, the UK's halal meat industry is valued at £1.7 billion and is expected to swell to almost £2 billion by 2028.

The report suggested that the valuation was in spite of the "supply chain disruption" caused by Brexit and the "absence of a clear government policy" covering the rules around meat.

Globally, the halal meat industry is worth more than $4.5 billion, according to the Halal World Institute, and the "increasing Muslim populace globally is significantly contributing to the marketplace's increase".