Am I correct to be angry?

Hello,

I'm a new user here and I do apologise in advance if I've posted this thread in the wrong forum.

I'm currently at secondary school, in year 9, and for a little while I've been concerned about the fact that halal meat is being served in the school canteen, despite the minority of Muslims in my school.

It started approximately a month ago when bacon and sausages were removed from the canteen though Quorn (fake sausage) rolls were introduced a couple of weeks ago. It was a little disappointing, and I did wonder at the time if it was related to the fact that Muslims cannot eat pork.

I was correct, as only a couple of days later, a kid in a younger year asked if the meat was halal, to which the canteen supervisor replied, "Halal meat is served all day, every day". At the time, I did not ask anyone to confirm whether or not the meat was halal, but instead I walked out, since I didn't really want to buy anything anymore.

Now, here's my problem - there is not one sign in the kitchen or surrounding area mentioning that the meat is halal. Plus, no letter or e-mail has been sent to notify parents or students. I find it quite aggravating that we have not been notified of the use of halal meat in the kitchen.

I'm not Muslim myself, and do not believe in the ritual slaughter of animals, as I've heard it inflicts a lot of pain upon the animal - more so than in normal slaughter - and most halal slaughterhouses do not pre-stun in the UK. To confirm my beliefs, I asked the headteacher at school of the the meat, to which she replied that the meat was all halal.

I'm really quite angry at the moment, as not only have I or anybody else been notified of this change, but it is disappointing to find that we are now 'bending over backwards' to 'backwards societies'. I shall repeat that, there are a very small number of Muslims in our school, and I find it unfair that the whole menu in the kitchen should be changed because of this minority. Surely they could supply themselves with their own, halal, packed lunch, or choose a meal from the vegetarian menu?

Am I correct to be angry, or not? I don't want to come across as a nutter, I'm just wondering as it seems rather annoying to me.

Thanks,

AircraftMad.

Reply 1

username1567177

18

Bit small to get 'angry' over - perhaps talk to the canteen service since ranting to us won't get it solved 😱

Reply 2

Dose of fury

14

By reading your post, it has become evident that you arehugely mistaken in regard to what halal meat is or what Islam teaches ingeneral. Halal meat is established by swiftly cutting the throat of the animalwith its eyes closed while declaring the greatness of God. The differencebetween Halal meat and normal meat, is that the meat you buy from yoursupermarket was once electrocuted and tortured before its death, while halal meat takes the most humane way ofkilling the animal. I invite you to watch the following video to have a greaterinsight of what I'm talking about.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8qtuspH4pMi await for your response.

Reply 3

lucaf

13

Actually you are wrong, most halal meat in the UK does come from pre-stunned sources. I guess try and find out whether or not their suppliers stun their meat first. If they do then just let it go as it isn't an issue, if they don't then raise a ****storm as that is completely unacceptable.

Reply 4

lucaf

13

Original post by Dose of fury

By reading your post, it has become evident that you arehugely mistaken in regard to what halal meat is or what Islam teaches ingeneral. Halal meat is established by swiftly cutting the throat of the animalwith its eyes closed while declaring the greatness of God. The differencebetween Halal meat and normal meat, is that the meat you buy from yoursupermarket was once electrocuted and tortured before its death, while halal meat takes the most humane way ofkilling the animal. I invite you to watch the following video to have a greaterinsight of what I'm talking about.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8qtuspH4pMi await for your response.

Absolute *******s. For a start normal meat is not "tortured" before being killed, it is stunned so that it is unconscious when it is killed. A bolt gun will knock an animal out instantly, and the main reason its use in halal slaughter is controversial is because there is a risk of it killing the animal before its throat is slit (basically making it "too humane" for halal).

Secondly, halal is simply not humane, particularly in cattle. In cattle the main blood supply to the brain is through the vertebral artery, which is not severed in the halal cut. This means that the brain maintains its blood supply after the animals throat is cut, meaning it takes on average twenty seconds for the animal to lose consciousness (with 8% taking a full minute) while suffering from a massively traumatic throat wound and choking on its own blood. It is absolutely not humane. Why do you think that most animal welfare and veterinary organizations are against it? Are vets notoriously islamophobic?

Instant unconsciousness, or twenty seconds to a minute of bleeding out: which would you choose?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 5

Copperknickers

15

Let's sort some facts out:

1. You have no way of knowing where the meat in your canteen comes from unless you do some serious investigation. You have no way of knowing if the animals were treated humanely or not. It's likely however that due to cost saving, your meat will not be organic or from high quality organic/free range sources, and thus you will eat many animals which have been treated inhumanely, halal or not. If you want to be sure that your food has been treated humanely, the safest course of action is not to eat meat. Failing that, only eat high quality free range meat.

2. In the UK, there is no major difference between halal and non-halal slaughter stunning practices: generally speaking, animals are electrocuted prior to slaughter, so that they are unconscious when the killing blow is delivered, halal or not.

3. There is a difference in the actual slaughter. Islamic slaughter must be done by a certified Muslim slaughterer, and the animal must be bled to death, whilst other methods are used in non-halal, usually faster ones which are completely mechanised. It's not a stretch to imagine that animals can still feel some pain while unconscious, so arguably Islamic slaughter (dhabiha) is less humane in this sense.

4. Stunning is NOT a sure way of preventing suffering. Sometimes animals regain consciousness before/during their death. Sometimes stunning doesn't work due to mechanical failure or human error. A small minority of Muslim and Jewish slaughterhouses don't stun animals before because they are exempt from stunning laws. On average, 15% of animals are not stunned before slaughter for one or other of these reasons, not including those who wake up after stunning.

In conclusion, halal slaughter is arguably less humane than Western slaughter, but slaughter in general is poorly regulated, so it's best to avoid meat altogether if the suffering of the livestock bothers you.

Reply 6

!!mentor!!

11

I agree that halal meat should be labelled but I feel that the OP is less concerned with the suffering of the animal and more that he hates the fact that something islam-related is going on in his school.

Reply 7

LetMeGoUni

1

I'd **** on the halal meat and give it back, follow my lead OP

Reply 8

H1ace

11

We Sikhs are strictly not allowed to eat halal food luckily, it's humane and disgusting

Reply 9

AircraftMad

OP

Original post by !!mentor!!

I agree that halal meat should be labelled but I feel that the OP is less concerned with the suffering of the animal and more that he hates the fact that something islam-related is going on in his school.

Hello,

Actually you're quite wrong. I'm more concerned with the way the animal is treated. Although, the fact that an Islamic tradition is creeping into British schools is not only annoying but also aggravating. I'm agnostic myself, but I'd rather my school stuck to the British, Christian traditions.

Thanks,

AircraftMad.

Reply 10

AircraftMad

OP

Original post by xGCSE_Studentx

Bit small to get 'angry' over - perhaps talk to the canteen service since ranting to us won't get it solved 😱

Hello,

Not ranting, since I was actually rather keen on hearing others' viewpoints. I wouldn't be posting a thread here otherwise.

Thanks,

AircraftMad.

Reply 11

AircraftMad

OP

Original post by Dose of fury

By reading your post, it has become evident that you arehugely mistaken in regard to what halal meat is or what Islam teaches ingeneral. Halal meat is established by swiftly cutting the throat of the animalwith its eyes closed while declaring the greatness of God. The differencebetween Halal meat and normal meat, is that the meat you buy from yoursupermarket was once electrocuted and tortured before its death, while halal meat takes the most humane way ofkilling the animal. I invite you to watch the following video to have a greaterinsight of what I'm talking about.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8qtuspH4pMi await for your response.

Hello,

Just because your 'Dawah Man' claims that halal is the most humane way in which to kill an animal, do you instantaneously believe it? This is the problem with many of your faith, once they hear someone chanting 'Allah is the greatest', they begin to become attached and believe anything that particular person says.

Besides, the fact that he quotes Russel Brand in his video is laughable. For Islam is not a race, but a religion, my friend! Halal is simply not humane, and requires that the animal be bled to death. Perhaps the way in which animals are usually slaughtered is not incredibly humane, and when I hear of such from an animal protecting government body, I shall stop eating meat all together! For the time being however, considering the content that has been released by the Daily Mail, and the numerous halal slaughterhouses that have been shut down across the country because of their breach of animal rights, demonstrating the barbaric manner of halal slaughter, I will continue to argue against halal.

Thanks,

AircraftMad.

Reply 12

username1567177

18

Original post by H1ace

We Sikhs are strictly not allowed to eat halal food luckily, it's humane and disgusting

You sicks are very priviliged :h:

Reply 13

Ozzin

12

I'm both annoyed at mistreatment of animals here but also I don't like the idea of a few minorities influencing a majority of people. It's not just that they're Muslims, I'd be annoyed with quite a lot like this (eg the election).

Reply 14

Vav Sartrean Po

18

Wtf I'd be super mad too. It's like the Tesco horse meat scandal, they aren't telling you. Also it's a legal requirement to correctly display labels, not telling you it's Halal or whatever is illegal.

Reply 15

SayHiToTheCamera

I find it funny that both sides are claiming their slaughter is more 'humane' and other words to that effect. Lets be honest the meat you're eating doesn't taste any different (unless the cattle was battery farmed - then there is some level of differences in taste but that is another debate) at the end of the day the meat you're eating is from a slaughter animal.

Does this bother me? No.

This has happened for centuries in all cultures; we kill animals for food. The way its killed is a moot point.
I reckon if any of you have an issue with the animals suffering you avoid meat, try not to think about it.
I personally try to rationalise it, The suffering of the animal in its final moments is nothing compared to the happy life it lead (assuming it had one - which is why I opt for free range).

The issue I think you should have is the fact they removed pork from everyone, why does everyone have to eat Halal? Why can't the school have an option for both? I remember in my school which was like 30% Islamic there was always a few halal options and a few non-halal meal options as well as.

And at the end of the day, you can always take a packed lunch

Am I correct to be angry?

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