Halal meat from animals slaughtered by religious ritual without having first been stunned cannot be labelled organic, on animal welfare grounds, a top European Union court ruled.
The way the meat is slaughtered “fails to observe the highest animal welfare standards”, said the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
Many Muslims believe that for meat to be halal and acceptable for them to eat, the animal may not be stunned before it is killed. Jewish kosher practices are similar to halal in this respect.
Producers have to meet the highest animal welfare standards to qualify for the EU’s organic label, the court noted.
So while the ritual slaughter of animals was allowed on grounds of religious freedom, if they were not first stunned then that did not meet the highest animal welfare standards.
The meat from such animals could not then qualify as organic.
The case came to the court after the OABA, a French association promoting animal welfare in abattoirs, urged the agriculture ministry to ban the labelling of such meat as organic.
Source: DS
