Millions of animals are suffering unnecessarily by being slaughtered without stunning to meet religious demands.
That's why we campaign to end religious exemptions to animal welfare laws.
Animal welfare law requires animals to be stunned before slaughter to minimise their pain, suffering and distress. The only exemption is for Jewish and Muslim communities to meet kosher and halal religious dietary preferences.
The scientific consensus is clear that it is more humane to stun an animal prior to slaughter. The slaughter of animals without pre-stunning is permitted in the UK despite a recommendation by the government's own advisory body, the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), that the practice should be banned. FAWC concluded that animals slaughtered without pre-stunning are likely to experience "very significant pain and distress".
RSPCA, Compassion in World Farming and the British Veterinary Association all support an end to non-stun slaughter to improve animal welfare at the time of death.
- 70% of Brits think stunning animals before slaughtering them is more ethical.
- 72% of the population think food produced from religious non-stun slaughter methods should be clearly labelled.
We support the right to religious freedom. But this is not an absolute right. Religious exemptions shouldn't be made to laws meant to prevent unnecessary animal cruelty.
Take action!
1. Write to your MP
Ask your MP to end the religious exemption that allows animals to be slaughtered without pre-stunning.
2. Share your story
Tell us why you support this campaign, and how you are personally affected by the issue. You can also let us know if you would like assistance with a particular issue.
3. Join the National Secular Society
Become a member of the National Secular Society today! Together, we can separate religion and state for greater freedom and fairness.
Latest updates
At least 17 councils giving schools non-stunned meat, NSS reveals
Posted: Thu, 18 Oct 2018 09:39
At least 17 councils across the UK are supplying non-stunned halal meat to dozens of schools, NSS research has revealed.
The NSS has found that around one in 12 councils provide non-stunned meat to schools, reaching thousands of children across Britain. At least one in nine councils which supply meat of any kind to schools supply non-stunned halal.
Non-stunned meat is reaching at least 140 schools, the significant majority of which are not Islamic faith schools.
In response the NSS said too many councils had bowed to a hardline interpretation of Islam, adding that the government should repeal the religious exemption to the UK's animal welfare laws.
The NSS submitted freedom of information requests on the subject to 206 councils across the UK. In response 18 councils initially confirmed that they supply non-stunned meat to schools. Five more gave unclear responses which indicated they may supply non-stunned meat or would be prepared to do so.
One of the 18, Ceredigion County Council in mid-Wales, later told the NSS its initial response was "factually incorrect", saying all chickens in the supply chains for its school meals were stunned before slaughter.
One hundred and sixty-six councils do not supply non-stunned halal meat to schools. At least 40 of these do not supply meat for school meals at all.
Forty-seven councils only supply halal meat when it is stunned. Sixteen told the NSS they did not have the relevant information available, while two failed to respond.
Several councils supply non-stunned meat to large numbers of schools, meaning thousands of pupils may be eating it. Kirklees Council in west Yorkshire supplies non-stunned halal to 40 schools. Luton Borough Council supplies non-stunned halal to 21 schools. Bolton Council and Leicester Council supply non-stunned halal to 17 schools each.
Some local authorities insist all halal meat they supply must be non-stunned. Bradford Metropolitan District Council has an 87-page 'halal manual' which insists that animals must not be stunned before slaughter. The manual draws heavily on advice from Muslim theologians. The NSS wrote to the council in November 2017 to urge it to stop supplying non-stun meat.
All halal meat supplied by Luton Borough Council is also non-stunned.
Councils frequently told the NSS their meat received halal certification from a group called the Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC). HMC only certifies non-stunned meat as halal.
The Halal Food Authority, a halal certification body which accepts pre-stunning for its main certification scheme, has told the NSS it is aware of increasing demand for non-stun meat in the UK.
According to official data there are 32 Islamic state schools in the UK. It is unclear how many of these schools are receiving non-stunned meat.
The NSS said the confusion around Ceredigion's response suggested other councils may be supplying non-stunned meat, and schools may be receiving it, without their knowledge.
Animal welfare legislation requires all animals to be stunned before slaughter in order to minimise suffering. The only exemption is for religious communities to meet Jewish and Muslim religious dietary preferences. The NSS campaigns for the repeal of this exemption.
In response to the findings NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: "A significant number of councils are helping the non-stun slaughter industry to expand the supply of inhumanely slaughtered meat. If slaughter without stunning is to be permitted, no more animals should be slaughtered under the religious exemption than is absolutely necessary to meet demand.
"Councils shouldn't be supplying meat from non-stun slaughter en masse, particularly when a majority of Muslims are content with pre-stunned meat. Too many local authorities' catering policies are favouring those pushing a more hardline interpretation of Islam.
"And the UK government should take note of these findings. Councils need support to ensure the meat they supply is killed humanely. The simplest way to guarantee that is to repeal the unjustifiable religious exemption to the UK's animal welfare laws. All meat should be slaughtered in line with the advice of vets, not clerics."
The data has emerged as Lancashire County Council prepares to conduct a final vote on whether to end the supply of non-stunned meat to schools on Thursday.
The council currently supplies non-stunned halal meat to 27 schools with a total of 12,000 pupils. It voted to end the practice in October 2017 but has since undergone a lengthy consultation process.
In advance of today's vote the NSS has written to all councillors in Lancashire urging them to uphold the original decision. In the letter Mr Evans wrote that animal welfare was "the primary issue at stake".
"Slaughtering animals without pre-stunning causes avoidable pain and suffering and is entirely unnecessary. There is nothing anti-Muslim about wanting the council to only supply meat from animals farmed, including at the point of slaughter, to the highest standards of animal welfare."
The consensus among animal welfare experts is that stunning animals before slaughter is more humane than not doing so. The Farm Animal Welfare Council says animals slaughtered without pre-stunning are likely to experience "very significant pain and distress" before they become unconscious.
The EU's Scientific Panel on Animal Health and Welfare has stated: "Due to the serious animal welfare concerns associated with slaughter without stunning, pre-cut stunning should always be performed."
The Federation of Veterinarians of Europe has called non-stun slaughter "unacceptable under any circumstances".
The RSPCA, Compassion in World Farming and the British Veterinary Association also advocate for all animals to be stunned prior to slaughter.
The UK government recently agreed a £25m deal to export non-stunned halal meat to Saudi Arabia, a decision which the NSS said would "normalise the mistreatment of animals".
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Note: This story was updated on 7 November 2018 to reflect the clarification received from Ceredigion County Council.
EU advisor says meat from unstunned animals can be labelled organic
Posted: Fri, 21 Sep 2018 11:56
The National Secular Society has criticised a "perplexing" opinion from an EU advisor that meat from non-stun slaughter can be considered 'organic'.
On Thursday an EU magistrate said that halal and kosher meat can be labelled 'organic' despite rules which suggest the meat should be refused the label on animal welfare grounds.
Advocate general Nils Wahl issued an opinion that the 'organic farming' certification "cannot be refused to products from the slaughter of animals without stunning".
European Council regulations require "the application of high animal welfare standards" for products to be labelled organic. The regulations also say "any suffering, including mutilation, shall be kept to a minimum during the entire life of the animal, including at the time of slaughter".
But an adviser to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) found that this legislation "does not precisely define the procedures that allow the suffering of animals to be kept at a minimum at the time of killing".
The advocate general determined that these regulations must be read in conjunction with Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which allows for exceptions to be made for "religious rites" in animal welfare legislation in EU member states.
He said animal welfare rules were subject to "two regimes", one of which was "exceptional" and based on religion.
"All in all, two regimes of animal welfare protection exist side by side: the general regime, which requires pre-stunning, and the exceptional regime (based on the desire to allow, on religious grounds, slaughter without stunning)."
It added that those involved in slaughter must "take necessary measures" to avoid suffering "within each of those regimes".
The case was brought by the French animal welfare group Oeuvre d'Assistance aux Betes d'Abattoirs (OABA). OABA has lobbied France's minister for agriculture to drop the 'organic farming' label from beef products from cattle slaughtered without pre-stunning.
NSS chief executive Stephen Evans called the opinion "perplexing".
"The advocate general appears to have turned a blind eye to the regulations in order to appease the religious slaughter industry," he said.
"If the EU's definition of organic precludes the use of slaughter methods that cause unnecessary pain and distress, non-stun slaughter cannot, by definition, be organic.
"It is plain that this advice threatens to erode animal welfare standards across the EU, as well as consumer confidence in organic labelling."
Veterinarians and other animal welfare experts agree it is more humane to stun an animal prior to slaughter than not to. The EU's Scientific Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) has stated that "due to the serious animal welfare concerns associated with slaughter without stunning, pre-cut stunning should always be performed".
But some countries in the EU, including the UK, grant exemptions from animal welfare law to Muslim and Jewish communities, allowing animals to be slaughtered for halal or kosher products without pre-stunning.
In May the NSS criticised two senior EU politicians, Antonio Tajani and Frans Timmermans, after they said they would oppose legislation that restricted religious animal slaughter.
