Many people in this country, both vegetarians and meat eaters, are concerned by the inhumane slaughter of animals to produce halal and kosher food. Over the weekend a leading vet was quoted as saying that the increase in the number of animals killed in ritual slaughter was ”unacceptable”. So what is the problem?

In the UK we pride ourselves on our largely civilised views and way of life. Though there are some imperfections, we have a rule of law that substantially protects our freedoms, guarantees our historic rights and basically enables us to live with its full protection. We have a whole raft of laws, rules and regulations that cover not just the rights and welfare of human beings but also those of animals.

Even though most of us eat meat we are concerned that those animals reared for our plates do not suffer unnecessarily. By law, animals destined for slaughter must first be stunned so that they are technically dead before being butchered.  The one exception is the ritual slaughter favoured by Jews and Muslims for kosher and halal food respectively meaning that animals are killed simply by having their throats cut. The result is that they bleed to death in great pain and distress; and all of this for religion. Unfortunately, that isn’t the full extent of the cruelty (and no other word will do) since investigations have shown that many non-halal or kosher abattoirs up and down the land are breaking the law by not stunning animals, simply to save time and increase productivity.

None of this is acceptable and the Food Standards Agency, which has evidently set up a board meeting later this month to discuss the question of non-humane killing, needs to act quickly. I cannot see how any religious belief can justify cruelty to animals and I certainly cannot see how monetary profit can justify it either. We need to revaluate our attitudes to animal welfare and whilst we’re considering humane killing we need to look too at other issues such as how animals are reared before slaughter, and particularly the production of veal and the force-feeding of ducks to make  pate foie gras. We have to eat, but if we cannot prepare our food better than this how can we call ourselves civilised?