Is there any country in the EU that forbids ritual cattle slaughter?

Question

If so, where are the halal and kosher certified meats sourced from?

In Germany an exemption can be applied for: (in German) Islamisches Opferfest | Nds. Ministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz: The competent authority may only grant an exceptional permit to the extent that it is necessary to meet the needs of members of certain religious communities who are prohibited by mandatory provisions of their religious community from eating meat from animals that have not been slaughtered. — Mark Johnson, Aug 10 '23 at 11:05
And it's worth quoting wikipedia " There are many Islamic and Jewish authorities and slaughterhouses that consider meat from stunned ritually slaughtered animals to be halal or kosher, and label and sell it as such." — James K, Aug 10 '23 at 11:55
You shouldn't change the context of your question once an answer has been given. — Mark Johnson, Aug 10 '23 at 17:46
How do you define ritual in this context. In South Africa all halaal meat certification means is that an imam cut a small incision in the carcass neck and said a 10 second prayer towards the carcass — Neil Meyer, Aug 11 '23 at 15:27
@NeilMeyer, That means, that animal is not halal. It is fake. — user366312, Aug 11 '23 at 16:52

score 19 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 11 '23 at 06:39

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Quite the contrary. In most European countries, shechita is - at least under certain conditions - legal.

Only in the blue-marked countries is it generally forbidden; in the green-marked countries prior anaesthesia is required.

That is, pre-cut stunning is required in Sweden, Belgium and Denmark (and Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, but these are not in the EU). Simultaneous stunning is required in Finland. Post-cut stunning is required in Austria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Estonia and Greece. Only in Slovenia is ritual slaughter banned.

Map source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ritual_slaughter_laws_Europe_map.svg

edited Aug 11 '23 at 06:39

Toby Speight

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answered Aug 10 '23 at 11:31

PMF

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Full list corresponding to this map is on this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_aspects_of_ritual_slaughter#EU_member_state_laws – Stef Aug 10 '23 at 11:48
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Actually wikipeida isn't quite right... Solvenia does allow ritual slaughter with pre-stunning. Belgium has mixed rules, with different Brussels not requiring stunning, but Wallonia and Flanders disallowing it, Then in the Netherlands, the regulations only allow for a minimal amount of non-stunned meat to be produced, and only for local consumption. Also many countries have different rules for poultry, or for rabbits. – James K Aug 10 '23 at 16:17
@JamesK Then please improve the Wikipedia article. – Aug 11 '23 at 02:45
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There are two different blues – OrangeDog Aug 11 '23 at 08:57

Is there any country in the EU that forbids ritual cattle slaughter?

1 Answers1