The Telegraph reported on Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation’s call for all meat and dairy products to include method of production labelling and method of slaughter.
See the full article below with quotes from our Patrons Sir Roger Gale MP and Henry Smith MP:
‘The Conservatives must include the labeling of Halal and Kosher meat in their upcoming manifesto, the Tory Animal Welfare group, backed by Carrie Symonds, has said.’
The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation (CAWF), whose patrons include the Prime Minister’s partner as well as ministers Dominic Raab, Zac Goldsmith and Theresa Villiers, has presented a blueprint manifesto to the Prime Minister.
It is hoped that Boris Johnson will include many environmental and animal welfare related issues in the document, and the CAWF has suggested many, including banning foie gras and the export of live farm animals for fattening and slaughter.
Currently, the method of slaughter and of raising the farm animals is not compulsory to include on packaging. Animals killed for Halal and Kosher meat are often not stunned before they are slaughtered, and are killed by having their throats slit.
Lorraine Platt, who runs the group, told the Telegraph: “This will be the biggest driver to advance farm animal welfare. We put it in our blueprint manifesto which we sent to Defra ministers and the Prime Minister to be considered for the official manifesto.
“It’s to do with all forms of meat and dairy production including method of slaughter.
“It’s not mandatory to have it on the packaging. Labels can be misleading – consumers have seen pictures of rolling hills and green fields and this can be misleading as the reality is the product can be derived from an intensive farm where they have a very little quality of life.
“CAWF support the British Veterinary Association stance on stunning before slaughter and we also support the RSPCA on this so we would very much like to see all meat stunned. We believe this is higher animal welfare because it helps lessen animal suffering.”
Henry Smith MP, a member of the group and long-time animal welfare campaigner said:
“People need to be informed about the food they are purchasing.
“The method of slaughter is very important. I have quite a few constituents contact me on this issue.
“Some people who are opposed to ritual slaughter want to know that the meat they are buying has been stunned, and those that are Halal or Kosher want that information as well.
“It’s good for consumer choice but also is something that will lead to pressure to improve standards.
“A majority of people do care about how their food is sourced and killed. I would want environmental welfare on there as well, for example CO2 emissions.
“I’d like to see it in the manifesto. This is a snap election and getting it all together in a short space of time is hard – but it’s an issue that I will be looking to pursue if I am re-elected to Parliament.”
Sir Roger Gale MP agreed, adding:
“She’s absolutely right to do that, it’s our policy and we all support it.
“I very much hope it goes in. The Prime Minister is very animal welfare friendly and that in itself is a good sign
“Where meat is sold consumers should have to know where it came from and how it was reared, and how it was killed.
“The other thing is we have to know how it’s been slaughtered. At the moment we know people buy halal meat who don’t believe in it. A lot of meat is halal and kosher butchered and sold in the open market.
“More is consumed and produced and consumed than is needed for those to consume it.
“People have a right to know when they are buying meat that it has not been slaughtered under conditions they do not approve of.”
Farming UK reports on Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation’s call for mandatory labelling to show how farm animals are reared and slaughtered:
A policy proposal has been sent to the Prime Minister for all meat packaging to include compulsory labels showing the method of slaughter.
The Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation (CAWF) has sent the blueprint policy to government.
Labels showing the method of slaughter, such as Halal and Kosher, are currently not compulsory to include on meat packaging.
Both production methods allow animals to be killed without being stunned first.
Numerous animal welfare groups have, however, decried these methods for allowing animals to suffer in pain.
CAWF, along with the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and RSPCA, believe ultimately that all livestock must be stunned before slaughter.
However, the Tory animal welfare group said introducing labels showing the method of slaughter will ‘inform’ the public on animal welfare issues.
CAWF has put the proposal in its blueprint manifesto which has been sent to Defra ministers and the Prime Minister to be considered for the official manifesto.
The group’s spokeswoman Lorraine Platt told The Telegraph:
“It’s to do with all forms of meat and dairy production including method of slaughter.
“It’s not mandatory to have it on the packaging. Labels can be misleading – consumers have seen pictures of rolling hills and green fields and this can be misleading as the reality is the product can be derived from an intensive farm where they have a very little quality of life.”
Henry Smith MP, a member of the group, added that the consumer ‘needs to be informed’ about the food they are purchasing.
“The method of slaughter is very important. I have quite a few constituents contact me on this issue,” he said.
“Some people who are opposed to ritual slaughter want to know that the meat they are buying has been stunned, and those that are Halal or Kosher want that information as well.’
Figures released last year showed that sheep slaughtered in the UK without being stunned had doubled in the past six years to more than three million.
