Top EU court: Halal meat, from unstunned animals, cannot be 'organic'
Meat from animals that were not stunned before slaughter - common to Islamic halal practices - cannot be labelled as organic, the European Union's top court ruled Tuesday.
Photo by Armando Ascorve Morales on Unsplash
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 - a practice that runs counter to standard rules on animal slaughter. Jewish kosher practices are similar to halal in this respect.
In 2012, a French association to protect slaughterhouse animals applied for a ban on granting the "organic farming" label to halal minced beef patties. The request was rejected, leading to a series of appeals.
The French court handling the case then turned to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for help in interpreting EU laws.
The Luxembourg-based court argued that meat bearing the EU's organic logo must follow the "highest standards, in particular in the area of animal welfare," according to a statement.
"Scientific studies have shown that pre-stunning is the technique that compromises animal welfare the least at the time of killing," the court noted.
The ritual slaughter of unstunned animals "is insufficient to remove all of the animal's pain, distress and suffering as effectively as slaughter with pre-stunning," which causes the animal to lose consciousness and sensibility, it added.
Slaughtering unstunned animals does not allow suffering to be kept to a minimum, the court found.
Therefore, EU rules "do not authorise the placing of the organic production logo of the EU on products derived from animals which have been slaughtered in accordance with religious rites without first being stunned," the ECJ concluded.
A court advisor, Advocate General Nils Wahl, had argued the contrary in September. In most cases, the judges follow these recommendations.
Wahl noted at the time that finding ritual slaughter incompatible with organic certification would deny consumers of halal and kosher products the benefits of organic farming in terms of quality and food safety.
The halal requirement that the animals must not be stunned is not universally applied. There is also some disagreement over which form of slaughter causes the animal more pain, with some arguing that a stun gun can be more painful than an expertly applied cut to the animal's neck.
The Koran specifies that animals must be treated gently, the German Animal Welfare Federation noted ahead of Tuesday's ruling. (dpa)
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