@farmerman,
Quote:unfortunately ol;ga , halal is blooding the animal FIRST. C:ubbing in the kashreth and halal markets is not what an observant one can do.
Yes you're right about that, farmer. Halal slaughter in the strictest sense.
I've just had to refresh my memory of the requirements of halal killing – (according to the Koran and Islamic leaders) they are:
Quote:- not killing animals in the presence of other animals
- the animals are not to be bound
- the slaughterman makes a dedication of the animal to ‘Allah’
- the animal being slaughtered must face Mecca
- the animal should be killed with a single cut to the throat with a long sharp blade, and
- the animal must not suffer prior to slaughter.
http://www.liveexport-indefensible.com/facts/halal.php
Clearly this is not what we've seen in the awful video footages from Indonesia & other middle eastern destinations of Australian live animal exports. And I can't, for the life of me, see how these requirements could be adhered to (anywhere) in
mass slaughters.
So when I advocate stunning before slaughter I'm talking about
halal accredited practices, which are already occurring in Brazil (the world's largest meat exporter), also in Australia & other meat exporting countries:
Quote:According to the RSPCA, there are over one hundred certified Halal abattoirs that could viably slaughter animals in Australia. .... the live export industry also admits “Australia exports chilled meat to the same countries it supplies with live animals.”
http://www.reportage-enviro.com/2010/11/live-export-versus-australian-halal-meat/
So
already frozen halal-accredited meat is sold in the supermarkets of middle eastern countries, along side meat from live exports.
And yes, you're absolutely right to argue that Australian exporters have no control about how our live animals are treated once they reach their country of destination. Despite what they claim are a huge improvements in the treatment & welfare of those exported animals. And despite their responsibility to ensure proper welfare standards are met. Clearly they
aren't being met. As we've seen in case after case, despite industry "reforms". The current Pakistan situation is just the latest in a long line of horror stories.
Personally, I cannot understand why the Australian meat exporters & the bodies which advocate for them cannot see the long-term value of upgrading their industry & doing away with the problematic & incredibly cruel live animal export industry.
Every time such solutions are suggested, they dig their heals in & insist on the importers' halal requirements, the loss of revenue, the loss of jobs in rural areas ...some of which may be true in the short-term, but with government support, they could build build a far more viable & far more
ethical industry for the long-term. Look at Brazil's example:
Quote:As one of the biggest exporters of halal meat in the world, Brazil maintains a substantial percentage of its production to cater to the Halal market, approximately 70 per cent of its exports of 1 million frozen chickens goes to over 100 countries are Halal-certified. Most of the country’s Halal products are being shipped to GCC countries, with reports revealing that USD 1.4 billion worth of chicken has been exported from January to August 2008 to the Middle East - an increase of 66 per cent over the same period last year. In addition to meat and poultry products, Brazil has also emerged as a major source of other Halal-certified consumables in the region such as coffee, chocolate, biscuits, fruits, and juices ....
http://beefmagazine.com/market-update/1120-brazil-exports-middle-east
Anyway, following the recent hideous mass slaughter of those unfortunate sheep in Pakistan, we now have yet
another passionate round of the debate underway, to try to convince our government to take a much stronger stand on live animal exports. I fear we still have a long way to go.
Sigh.
