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Lucylastic -> RE: Muslims serving in the Navy (4/7/2016 10:24:44 AM)
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Soldiers secretly being fed halal meat
The Ministry of Defence admits it does not label food as halal or kosher in its UK or overseas bases, with only soldiers who request these meals told what they are eating
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10895029/Soldiers-not-told-they-are-eating-halal-meat.html
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2012/03/15/halal_meat_creating_controversy_in_quebec.
MONTREAL—Following in the footsteps of France, some Quebecers are starting to worry that halal meat is increasingly being sold to consumers without their knowledge.
Framing the issue once again within the divisive debate over how far Quebecers must go to accommodate religious minorities, the Parti Québécois on Wednesday complained that people should know if the meat they’re buying has been slaughtered according to Islamic ritual.
Quebec is “losing control” over this issue, the PQ’s agriculture critic told reporters.
“Religious slaughter is legal, but it must remain the exception,” André Simard said. “However, it has become the rule.”
Simard, in a statement, added, “This type of slaughter collides head on with Quebecers’ values.”
The politician denounced the fact that the province’s food inspection agency had no information on the volume of halal and kosher production, the amount consumed, imported and exported.
Halal meat comes from animals that have been killed according to Islamic norms. The animal is bled by cutting its throat, accompanied by an Islamic prayer.
Abdelhamid Aouchiche, owner of the Montreal’s Boucherie Tassili, a halal butcher, was furious with the PQ for creating a “polemic” on halal meat.
“It’s not becoming the norm in Quebec,” said Aouchiche, also the founder of an association that certifies butchers and meat packers as halal — something the government doesn’t do.
“What (the PQ) is doing is simply creating discrimination,” he said. “They are following France, and what’s happening in France? Racism.”
Halal meat has become a major issue in the French presidential election. A recent public television documentary there raised questions when it claimed all meat in the region of Paris is halal. The extreme right party quickly took up the cause.
The controversy in Quebec has been mounting as media reports unearthed instances where halal meat has become the norm.
In one case, halal meat is served to all children at a daycare even though only a minority are Muslim in order to save from having to buy two types of meat. And it’s been reported that meat packers have sold unlabelled halal meat or poultry to the general public.
It can save producers money to simply make all their meat halal even if only some of it is labelled as such and marketed to Muslims.
Olymel, a major Canadian poultry and pork company based in Saint-Hyachinthe, has had its poultry plant in Saint-Damase, Que., certified halal. The chickens are desensitized with an electric shock and then “mechanically” bled, said spokesperson Richard Vigneault. Save for the religious prayer, the process is the same in the company’s other plants, he said.
Olymel sells the fresh chicken to distributors, some of which label the meat as halal, some of which do not, Vigneault explained.
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