On June 16th., Amendment 205 of the Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers, which will make the labelling of ritually slaughtered/ non-stunned meat compulsory, was adopted with 326 votes in favour of the amendment, 270 against and 68 abstentions.
For over two years Scotland for Animals have been campaigning and lobbying for ritual slaughter products to be labelled by law in order to give consumers the right to boycott these goods and premises stocking them.
Scotland for Animals’ Spokesman John Patrick said today “We’re delighted that MEPs have at last decided to take action on this issue.”
“In the course of our work we have found bodies such as Local Authorities, the Food Standards Agency and others responsible for labelling/ consumer law completely uninterested and at times downright obstructive regarding the current situation with regards to the sale of ritually slaughtered meat. Finally, people can look forward to no longer having this cruelly produced meat forced upon them without their knowledge.”
“The public have been strongly supportive of our proposals. The sale of ritually slaughtered meat in Scotland has risen dramatically in recent years, and people have been appalled to learn the slaughter methods behind these products. This is a victory for consumers and for the rights of those who want to see animals killed with as much dignity and as little pain as possible.”
We are disappointed that this legislation will not apply to restaurants or canteens; however we congratulate MEP’s for a momentous step in the right direction.
Scotland for Animals will continue to campaign for an extension to these areas and for a complete end to religious slaughter in general. For more visit:
http://www.scotlandforanimals.org
On a similar subject, New Zealand has de facto banned the kosher – shechita – method of religious slaughter, requiring that animals be pre-stunned before killing.