UK Halal News:

UK – Halal Meat plant opens its doors to the public Today

Posted by on June 29th, 2010

A unique open day at a halal abattoir is being held for all Imams and mosque representatives later this month.

The open day organised by Janan Meat Ltd will take place on June 30 at the company’s Abattoir in the West Midlands.

Janan Meat has been a dedicated producer of Halal Lamb and sheep since 1992.

Directors and Staff of Janan Meat say they will be pleased to show people around the whole abattoir and to answer any questions they may have in relation to the production of Halal lamb and Mutton here in the UK.

The aim of the open day is to increase the understanding of the production method for Halal Meat and to ensure that the case for differentiation between Halal meat and Halal poultry is made.

Any community representatives wishing to take part in the visit are asked to call 01384 401 491 or e-mail openday@jananmeat.co.uk

Open Day Invitation – Wednesday 30 June 2010.
Janan Meat Dedicated Producer of Halal Lamb and Sheep since 1992 is pleased to invite you to attend an open day on Wednesday 30 June 2010 at the Abattoir.

Beginning at 10.30am the Directors and Staff of Janan  Meat will be pleased to show you around the whole abattoir and to answer any questions you may have in relation to the production of Halal lamb and Mutton here in the UK supporting our philosophy that Janan Meat has an open door policy to the UK Muslim community.

The aim of the open day is to increase the understanding of the production method for Halal Meat and to ensure that the case for differentiation between Halal meat and Halal poultry is made.

Lunch and other refreshments will be served.

Please reply to:
Janan Meat, The Abattoir, Oak Lane industrial Estate,
Oak Lane, Kingswinford, Dudley,
West Midlands , DY6 7JS
Phone : 01384 401 491
E-Mail: openday@jananmeat.co.uk
Source: newsroom – meattradenewsdaily.co.uk

Is Islamic finance a ‘huge flop’?

Posted by on June 29th, 2010

By Rushdi Siddiqui

In London, an acknowledged hub for Islamic finance, the Times had an eye-catching headline recently: ‘After six years, Sharia-compliant bank products are ‘huge flop.’ It resulted in numerous comments by those involved in Islamic finance, reminding us all that negativity draws a reaction. But the jury is still out on the embryonic Islamic finance sector in London, and using a micro-cap size listed Islamic bank, the Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB), may be more about the entity and its offering than the viability of Islamic finance in a non-Muslim country.

Lets take a closer look at retail Islamic finance in G-20 countries like UK. IBB’s situation may have been more about the consequence of cheerleading Islamic finance by emphasizing quantity – namely the two million Muslims in the UK – over quality. Obviously not many efforts have yet been bankable.

A quick glance at Islamic retail banking in Muslim countries – Islamic finance hubs like Bahrain, UAE, and Malaysia – reveals that not one country had Islamic finance surpass an estimated 30% of all types of banking. Yet, in Malaysia, majority of the customers for Islamic finance are not Muslims, but ethnic-Chinese and they are commonly assumed to be shrewd and savvy on financing.

So, how does the industry take this successful aspect of Islamic finance in Malaysia and transplant it to the UK? Or, is there more to the story, since ethnic Chinese are the largest Islamic finance users in Malaysia, and this phenomenon may not necessarily be transferable to Britain?

Economic immigrants
There is a “numbers bias” for British Muslims, as large majorities are from the Indian subcontinent – India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. They came seeking better economic opportunities, education for their children, upward mobility, and so on. These immigrants came from countries where Islamic finance was, at best, more of a theory and less of a practice in the 1960s-70s. But although the British Islamic banking experience, from Albaraka to United Bank of Kuwait to (now) the Islamic Bank of Britain, generally resulted in a leveled regulatory and tax playing field, that has not opened the floodgates to Islamic finance. Why?

First, the British government has been talking about a sovereign sukuk for a few years, though nothing has yet materialized. Post Prime Minister Tony Blair, each successive government has stated their enthusiastic commitment and firm support for Islamic finance, and yet the industry still awaits for this magical sukuk.

Yes, the credit crisis has provided set-backs, buts let’s hope its not an opportunistic excuse for further delays. France’s recent interest in being an Islamic finance hub, coupled with their comments about a corporate benchmark sukuk could actually pressure Britain to issue a sovereign sukuk beforehand.

Second, the inability of Islamic finance to take off at the retail level in Britain, or any other G-20 country for that matter, may be attributed to a variety of factors. The lack of interest in Islamic finance, coupled with a comfort with conventional finance, may foster the interpretation that a certain type of ‘interest’ is acceptable. Often, Islamic finance is simply too expensive, resulting in a financial ‘penalty’ for being a Muslim. For some, Islamic finance, as presently offered, is not ‘Islamic’ enough, or the scholars signing off on such products may not be well known or credible. Education may not be responsive to the needs of the bankable masses. Finally, in a post-9/11 environment, some Muslims may be concerned that if they adopt Islamic finance, they may end up on a government watch-list.

Then there is the theory that some Muslims may have a debt-averse mindset, compounded, in Britain, with the availability of ‘Islamic’ debt offerings, such as Islamic mortgages. The anti-debt mindset may be a cultural influence and/or a literal interpretation from the Holy Qur’an, which describes the permissibility of trade and prohibition against interest (2:275-79). There are countless stories of British Muslims living and operating in a cash economy, renting apartments, and accumulating enough savings over years or decades to finally buy a home in cash.

Education and awareness
We have all heard about the need for education about Islamic finance, in the form of seminars, workshops, conferences, newsletters, industry organizations, or on-line courses. The slow consumer acceptance of Islamic products may then be due to incomplete education, absorption, or understanding, leaving the reaction time cycle for product buy-in much longer than expected.

But what about all the surveys and questionnaires about Islamic finance that offer support as basis for the offering? The possibility of survey and interview bias must be factored into the formula. During the survey stage with the ‘man on the street’ and written questionnaires, there may not have been a conscious awareness of minimizing leading questions and minimizing impact of ‘politically correct’ answers. It would seem that British Muslims, like any other Muslim or non-Muslim interested in Islamic finance, want broad spectrums of products at market prices with comparable customer service and support.

However, the bottom-line is to look at the end result, as the take up of Islamic finance at the bankable retail level has not met expectations. Are a majority of British Muslims simply too old, too poor or too new to be interested in Islamic finance?

Back to basics
The stakeholders pushing Islamic finance may need to have a reality check concerning retail offerings in non-Muslim countries with an established Muslim minority. The enthusiasm Islamic bankers have had for Islamic finance may not be shared by a percentage of Muslims at the retail level. The Islamically bankable population appears to be quite small, hence requiring a better understanding of demand, the right mix of product offerings, proper distribution channels, and support service.

Calling Islamic financing a ‘huge flop’ may be a needed wake-up call for Islamic finance on the true market size and opportunity that exists and our ability to manage demand expectations. Obviously, something is broken and we need to move out of the cheerleading comfort zone, realistically assessing the lack of interest by the ‘Muslim on the street’ when it comes to Islamic finance.

Rushdi Siddiqui is Head of Islamic Finance at Thomson Reuters.

Ooh la la! Halal food is the new big thing

Posted by on April 11th, 2010

KIM WILLSHER

PARIS: Few things define the traditional good life in France better than champagne and foie gras but few would have thought them symbols of social integration – until now.

A boom in sales of halal goods, including alcohol-free bubbly and goose liver pate approved by Islamic law, is being driven by the emergence of an affluent middle class of young Muslims.

Known as the beurgeois – a play on bourgeois and the word beur, slang for a French person of North African descent – these new consumers are behind a rapidly expanding and highly profitable market in halal food and drinks.

With spending power worth an estimated €5.5 billion ($7.9 billion) a year, according to the pollster Solis, these under-40s are forcing international food suppliers to cater for their demands.

Yanis Bouarbi, 33, an information technology specialist who set up the website paris-hallal.com, which lists restaurants in France that serve halal food, says young Muslims are at the heart of a mini-social revolution. ”When our parents and grandparents came to France they did mostly manual work and the priority was having enough to feed the family,” said Mr Bouarbi, who arrived from Algeria at the age of three.

”But second- or third-generation people like me have studied, have good jobs and money and want to go out and profit from French culture without compromising our religious beliefs.

”We don’t just want cheap kebabs, we want Japanese, Thai, French food. We want to be like the rest of you.”

The demand for halal products, increasing by an estimated 15 per cent a year, has captured the attention of food giants such as the supermarket group Casino, which has stocked a growing variety of halal foods – mostly meat products – for three years.

The fast-food chain Quick has a number of halal-only burger bars. Muslim corner shops selling exclusively halal foods and drinks, including eggs, turkey-bacon, pork-free sausages and alcohol-free ”champagne”, labelled as Cham’Alal, are also flourishing.

Halal foie gras, introduced to supermarket chains two years ago at the end of the Muslim feast of Ramadan, has proved an unexpected success. ”It’s one of our best sellers. We have around 30 foie gras bought a day,” Cyril Malinet, manager of a Carrefour supermarket, told Liberation, the French daily.

Annick Fettani, head of Bienfaits de France, which specialises in halal duck, said: ”Until now we’ve had to fight to sell our foie gras but today everyone wants it.”

In Paris’s trendy 11th arrondissement, Les Enfants Terribles, run by brothers Kamel and Sosiane Saidi, serves halal French haute cuisine. ”Before, Muslims wishing to eat halal would go to a restaurant and it was fish or nothing. Now we have a choice,” said Sosiane, 28, who set up the restaurant three years ago.

”Young Muslims have money and want to eat out like everyone else but according to their religion. The food doesn’t taste any different. We have many French customers who don’t even know we’re totally halal. To us, that is what integration is about.”

Guardian News & Media

Cigarettes may contain pig blood

Posted by on April 3rd, 2010

Here’s a really good reason to quit smoking: cigarettes may contain traces of pigs’ blood.

Simon Chapman, Professor in Public Health from the University of Sydney points to a recent Dutch research which identified 185 different industrial uses of a pig – including the use of its haemoglobin in cigarette filters.

The research found pig haemoglobin – a blood protein – was being used to make cigarette filters more effective at trapping harmful chemicals before they could enter a smoker’s lungs.

Prof Chapman said while tobacco companies had moved voluntarily list the contents of their products on their websites, they also noted undisclosed “processing aids … that are not significantly present in, and do not functionally affect the finished product”.

“It just puts into hard relief the problem that the tobacco industry is not required to declare the ingredients of cigarettes … they say ‘that’s our business’ and a trade secret.”

This “all encompassing reasoning” hides from public view an array of chemicals and other substances used in the making of tobacco products, he said.

At least one cigarette brand sold in Greece was confirmed as using pig haemoglobin in its processes, Prof Chapman said, and the status of smokes sold worldwide was unknown.

“If you’re a smoker and you’re of Islamic or Jewish faith then you’d probably would want to know, and there is no way of finding out,” Prof Chapman said.

The true meaning of halal

Posted by on March 26th, 2010

cfCatherine Fildes is a PhD student at Cambridge University, researching British Muslim fiction in the faculty of english

Debates about halal slaughter miss the wider point of a concept that promotes purity and integrity in Muslims’ whole lives.

Half-reluctantly, I should “come out”, despite having hidden it from most of my fellow PhD students in the Cambridge English faculty. I try to avoid identity politics but for this article it seems necessary. I’m a white Muslim girl who doesn’t wear hijab or speak Arabic. Unlike that other white Muslim, Jihad Jane, I quite like the west. In fact I’m inspired by western-educated Muslims such as Gai Eaton, who died recently. Nevertheless, the glib Islams that have plagued British Muslims to date exhaust me.

Nesrine Malik’s article on “The rights and wrongs of halal”, which has been vigorously commented upon by Guardian readers, fits the shoddy bill. Its purpose, like many articles on British Islam, is to dig a great gaping gulf between “religious” values and the “secular ethical ones” (anyone reminded of the Rushdie affair?) Malik scaremongers by providing inept source evidence for the British secular reaction against halal meat, and by providing no source evidence whatsoever on the Islamic concept of “halal”.

Referring to a seven-year-old BBC news story that documents the Farm Animal Welfare Council’s governmental advice to outlaw halal slaughter, Malik seems to be under the impression that the debate between the “British” and the “Muslims” rages on this issue. Yet if you go to the FAWC website and look through recent reports, the organisation seems fairly inactive with regard to halal slaughter, because, as is made explicit in a May 2009 report, many officially-certified halal slaughterhouses have adopted electric stunning as a mechanism for placating the animals.

And, if you then go to the guidelines stipulated in one of the UK’s largest regulators of halal foods, the Halal Food Authority (HFA), you will see an unexpected middle ground. The HFA maintain that scientific methods should be “considered with caution” (not ruled out completely), that they must comply with the “Islamic ethos”, and that multiple forms of stunning are in fact acceptable.

“Halal” is an Arabic term that, in Islamic contexts, means “lawful, permissible”. Muslims are supposed to live their lives by this concept, with its connotations of cleanliness, integrity and self-restraint. That Malik ignores this definition, and goes on to omit the more specific relationship between “halal” and slaughter, is encapsulated in her impoverished description of why Muslims want halal meat at all: “the logic behind this is that remaining blood in the body may become polluted and harmful to humans”.

Yet the Qur’anic justification for halal slaughter states that “forbidden to you is carrion, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that over which any name other than God’s has been invoked, and the animal that has been strangled, or beaten to death, or killed by a fall, or gored to death, or savaged by a beast of prey, save that which you [yourselves] may have slaughtered while it was still alive.” (5:3). It’s not about harmful blood, although this may be the rational interpretation of the opening lines. The deeper emphasis of this verse is on the “good” and “pure”, as opposed to violent and careless. Pain is supposed to be minimised, the responsibility of the Muslim increased. Eating is an act of worship (ibadah).

I completely agree with Malik’s emphasis on hypocrisy. I think it’s something that we all suffer from with regard to personal ethics, and even more so concerning religious interpretation. The interpretations of the Qur’an and hadiths are a case in point, as Ziauddin Sardar beautifully demonstrates. For how can we explain a Qur’anic verse with certainty? And which practices are to be adapted for modernity? Certain rituals of seventh-century Islam have been codified and repeated, such as prayer, while others are often contextualised as activities for their time and place, which nonetheless are followed in spirit if not action.

Fortunately, Islam as a religion was founded on scepticism and antagonism – not blind acceptance. Unfortunately, if Muhammad’s life was revolutionary, its aftermath has seen a monological recital of hadiths and inflexible analyses of Qur’anic verses, where historical context is taken up or ignored to suit the interpreter. Memories of early Islam have hardened into dogma, and many scholars have taken the hadiths as seriously as tablets of stone.

If diversity is feared, it is unavoidable when we are thinking through so-called “religious values”. We must strive to recapture the multiple “spirits” of Islam instead. If we do, it will become immediately apparent that “halal” should stretch to every aspect of how we treat animals. Some halal butchers, such as Abraham Natural Produce, have rejected most Muslim slaughterhouses on this basis. No dead meat that has been factory-produced could be halal.

In contrast, if we make the Islamic spirit relevant to 21st-century British society, then we could argue that halal meat must be mass-produced in our late-capitalist times, especially if it is the only way of providing affordable meat to the relatively poor, mainly working-class African or South-Asian British Muslims in the UK. Modern-day “halal meat” could also mean that British practices that alleviate animal suffering are to be included in the definition.

Too much emphasis is wrongly placed, by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, on the ritualistic outward show of Islam. It’s telling that more verbal and political energies are being channelled into anxiety about female head coverings, a tired debate recently rejuvenated in France, than about cruelty to animals or exploitation of the natural world.

Midamar brings halal meat to Detroit

Posted by on October 24th, 2009

midamarBy Khalil AlHajal – The Arab American News

DEARBORN ? Members of one of the oldest and most obscure Arab American communities in the country are connecting with the Detroit-area as they work to put halal meat from Iowa on local dinner tables.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa is home to one of the first mosques established in the U.S., built in 1934 during the Great Depression.

It’s also home to Midamar Corp., a major exporter of halal meat, run by descendents of four brothers who moved to Iowa from Lebanon in 1888.

The company recently reached out to a Dearborn-based distributor and began selling products in local stores.

“Iowa holds claim to fame for many things in Muslim America, including one of the first mosques and one of the first Islamic cemeteries in the U.S.,? said Nasim Cheetany, a Detroit-area resident whose family is originally from Cedar Rapids.

The original four immigrant brothers, Abbas, Moussa, Ali and Yusef Habhab, made homes in Iowa by working on farms and peddling fruit and whatever else they could sell, according to Abdullah Habhab, who runs domestic sales for Midamar and is the grandson of Moussa.

“Eventually, one by one, each brother made enough money and went back to Lebanon to get married,” he said.

“They then came back to Iowa and started many businesses such as grocery stores, tire shops, theaters, café³ and gas stations. The brothers became very successful after very hard work and many hardships? Our families made a name for themselves.”

The grandson of Abbas Habhab, William Aossey, would become the first American Muslim to serve in the Peace Corps.

As a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal from 1963-1965, Aossey worked in agricultural development, helped dig water wells and helped coach the country’s 1964 Olympic wrestling team.

He then spent years traveling throughout Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia.

Witnessing widespread malnutrition and a lack of agricultural development in many of the places he explored, Aossey decided to form an Iowa-based international development research organization called Mid-American Agricultural Research, or Midamar.

Incorporated in 1974, Midamar grew into a major export company sending halal meat approved by the Department of Agriculture and certified by the organization Islamic Services of America to over 30 countries around world, including Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Singapore.

“The global demand for halal food completely outweighs the supply,” said Jalel Aossey, Director of Midamar and the son of William Aossey.

The company is now trying to gets its name well-known in the Detroit-area as a trustworthy provider of halal meat.

Being distributed by local company Midwest Halal Distribution, the products are on now on the shelves of grocery markets in Dearborn and Hamtramck, according to that company’s owner Azzam Haidar.

“There was a need for variety, a wider selection of halal products,” he said about hooking up with Midamar.

He said the company is widely known and respected as a company that works with the U.S.D.A. and Islamic authorities to ensure quality.

Cheetany said there is a strong historical connection between Detroit and Cedar Rapids, going back to Iowa immigrants moving to the Motor City to work in the auto industry at its peak decades ago.

“There was always that relation back then,” he said. “To have this kind of business relationship is going to further the relationship between the Dearborn and Cedar Rapids communities, and between Arab American communities all over the country.”

Protestors boycott halal subway in Manchester

Posted by on October 24th, 2009

subway_ukPROTESTORS have launched an internet campaign asking people to boycott a sandwich retailer for only stocking Halal meat in two of its stores in Manchester.

Campaigners have set up a group on social networking website Facebook asking users to support them in pressurising the Subway restaurant chain to “offer all its customers the freedom to choose” whether they eat ritually prepared or traditionally prepared meat.

The stores, in Cheetham Hill and Levenshulme, stock only certified Halal meats, which are prepared for consumption according to Muslim religious practice.

“We believe this discriminates against non-Muslim customers,” wrote one of the group’s administrators. “Our intention is not to deprive the Muslim customers the right to Halal products, but we must be free to decide.”

The group hope to encourage supporters to avoid buying Subway products, send a letter of concern to the company and also to sign their petition, which they intend to present to the company’s chief executive.

A spokesman for Subway said: “The Subway chain has over 70 stores in the Manchester and Greater Manchester area, of which several serve a range of certified Halal meats.

“The Halal stores reflect an increased demand from the local Muslim community for Halal certified products.

“Subway stores aim to cater for the whole community, by offering subs that everyone can enjoy, and should customers wish to eat non-Halal meats at a Subway store in Manchester, there are many others to choose from.”

Cheetham councillor Afzal Khan, a former lead member for race equality, said: “The company’s decision to serve Halal meat in these two areas seems to me to be a commercial decision.

“If they have stopped providing non-Halal meat, then the management must have concluded that there are not many meat eaters who object to eating it.

“Through this policy they can make their business viable and more profitable. I would support any action which provides service to many diverse groups living in our vibrant city.”

Halal, I love you. Won't you sell me your game?

Posted by on October 24th, 2009

halal-meat-pricesby Marie Viljoen – brokelyn.com

What if you have a hankering for meat and a vegetarian’s budget? You might consider shopping halal. At the Atlantic Avenue butcher shop where I buy leg of lamb, it goes for $4.50/lb., as compared to $6 to $7 a pound at Fairway and $7.99 at Whole Foods last time I checked. There are some differences between halal lamb and the kind you’re probably used to, and we’ll let you decide how you feel about the slaughter practices.

It tastes a bit different as well—halal lamb is completely drained of blood and it hasn’t been aged, so it’s not that super-tender lamb chop you’re going to grill to a pink medium-rare. This is hearty flesh that responds to marinades, barbecuing, and to slow simmering.  Here’s a recipe I came up with.

Butterflied lamb with Yoghurt and Garlic
Have the leg deboned by the butcher, or do it yourself. Rub a cup of creamy Greek yoghurt onto the flesh, along with three finely chopped garlic cloves and about 4 sprigs of oregano. Salt. Let it sit for a few hours in the fridge, and then put it under a blistering broiler for maybe 8-10 minutes a side. Then it rests.  It is very good on a wood fire, too. Or charcoal. Whatever. After ten minutes of resting slice it and serve with something strong like a fennel-and-potato salad.

Halal Meat Market, 232 Atlantic Ave. between Court Street & Boerum Place, 718-625-2781.

When is halal meat not halal meat? (See What is Halal? Page)

Posted by on October 24th, 2009
WHO, WHAT, WHY?  The Magazine answers…

chickensFast food chain KFC is trialling halal meat in certain restaurants, but some Muslims say it hasn’t been killed in the correct Islamic way. Catrin Nye asks when is halal meat not halal meat?

It may claim its food is “finger lickin’ good”, but until recently strict Muslims might have seen a problem with it

Now fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is trialling halal meat – meaning it has been killed in accordance with Islamic dietary laws – in eight of its UK restaurants. But the trial has sparked a debate over what is and what isn’t halal, with some Muslims boycotting the restaurants because they say the meat has not been killed correctly.

The issue is whether meat can be halal if it has been slaughtered using mechanical methods.

Traditionally, halal meat is killed by hand and must be blessed by the person doing the job. But some Muslims say a mechanised form is also now acceptable.

Halal is the description of food and drink Muslims are allowed to consume under Islamic dietary laws defined in the Koran and in the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad PBH. Classifying of halal food can only be carried out by a Muslim expert in the laws.

The meat is traditionally prepared by slaughtering the animal with a quick cut to the throat with a sharp knife to allow all blood to drain out, the idea being that the meat is cleaner. The slaughterman is required to say the traditional proclamation of faith in one god as the animal is killed: Bismillah Allahu Akbar (in the name of Allah, Allah is the Greatest).

THE ANSWER
When it has been slaughtered using mechanical methods
Halal Food Authority says this is acceptable
Halal Monitoring Committee says it should be done by hand

At present two separate organisations regulate the halal food industry in the UK. The Halal Food Authority (HFA) says using machines is OK, as long as the meat is still blessed. It argues that advances in technology mean methods have to change and though a machine does the killing, the meat is still blessed by a Muslim slaughterman.

But the Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC) says animals should be slaughtered by hand and using a machine is not halal and not permissible. It argues mechanisation contradicts a fundamental principle of halal – that the person who slaughters the animal is the same person who recites the words over it.

Call for single body

“Halal is a very sacred part of a Muslim’s diet and many Muslims do not even know what they are eating when it’s certified as halal in this way,” says Yunus Dudhwala, chairman of the HMC.

“I think the majority would be very upset to find out that it’s been mechanically killed.”

KFC says it is following the guidance offered by what it considers a reputable adviser.

“We are working with the Halal Food Authority, one of the most widely recognised bodies in the UK and overseas, who have audited and approved our halal suppliers, distribution and our trial store environments,” says a spokesperson for the company.

WHO, WHAT, WHY?
Question mark floor plan of BBC Television Centre
A regular part of the BBC News Magazine, Who, What, Why? aims to answer some of the questions behind the headlines

The debate has prompted calls for a single body to regulate the halal food industry which has a clear set of guidelines on animal slaughter.

“The onus is not on individuals to identify each and every item that they eat, if the seller says it’s halal that’s enough,” says Ajmal Masroor, an Imam and spokesman for the Islamic Society of Britain. He neither approves nor disapproves of either certification process and therefore does not endorse or reject KFC’s methods.

UK Halal Meat Industry to Import Another 5,000 Pakistani Butchers

Posted by on October 24th, 2009

halaal-butcher-londonOver 5,000 butchers from Pakistan will be offered employment in the halal meat industry in Britain, it has been announced.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between National Halal Foods Group (NHFG) in Britain and the Overseas Employment Cooperation of Pakistan, signed at the Pakistan High Commission in London on Friday, has cemented the deal.

The Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), which advises the government on how to avoid cruelty to livestock, says the way halal meat is produced causes severe suffering to animals and should be banned.

The Muslim religion demands that slaughter is carried out with a single cut to the throat, rather than the more widespread method of stunning with a bolt into the head before slaughter.

Peter Jinman, president of the British Veterinary Association, is on record as urging Muslims to be respectful of animals. “We’re looking at what is acceptable in the moral and ethical society we live in,” he said.

The FAWC said it wanted an end to the exemption currently allowed for halal meat from the legal requirement to stun animals first. It says cattle can take up to two minutes to bleed to death — amounting to an abuse of the animals.

“This is a major incision into the animal and to say that it doesn’t suffer is quite ridiculous,” said FAWC chairwoman, Dr Judy MacArthur Clark.

Compassion in World Farming backed the call, saying: “We believe that the law must be changed to require all animals to be stunned before slaughter.”

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