Religious slaughter of animals: International efforts to meet this need responsibly

Abstract

The Jewish and Muslim communities have a set of dietary laws that control the food they eat. One of the most important components of these laws is how an animal is killed for food. In both communities there has been well-documented interest and concern for animal welfare, long before such concerns were fashionable in the Western world. Both groups traditionally use a cut at the neck to make the animal unconscious. The religious slaughter of animals is sometimes a challenge for the modern meat slaughter industry because the process is slower, requires more skill on the part of slaughterhouse and the slaughterman, requires more attention to the details of animal handling, and needs specialized equipment that is often expensive, especially for higher line speeds. But religious slaughter of animals also has some benefits such as the fact that the animal is killed by someone with religious training who cares about the animal, using a razor sharp knife that is free of nicks. Working with the religious communities, the OIE (World Health Organization for Animals), the American Veterinary Medicine Association and the North American Meat Institute have addressed these issues with the assistance of Dr. Temple Grandin, the preeminent authority in this area. With religious slaughter it is important to distinguish between unconsciousness (loss of the ability to feel pain) and insensibility (loss of all reflexes in the head). And it is also important for both the religious and scientific communities to work harder to be sure that best practices for religious slaughter are developed and then used.