‘Halal Is Not The Problem, Exaggerated Meat Consumption Is’: Animal Welfare Commissioner Alison Bezzina
Animal Welfare Commissioner Alison Bezzina has insisted that the certification of Malta’s public abattoir as a halal meat producer will not lead to a rise in animal cruelty.
News that the World Islamic Society has given the abattoir an official halal certification for beef, mutton and goat meat led to an outcry among several animal activists.
However, Bezzina said that the “real concern” is “exaggerated” meat consumption and not whether animals are slaughtered through a halal or non-halal process.
“Malta’s Public Abattoir has been producing Halal meat since 2013,” she pointed out.
“The only thing that changed is that this year the Abattoir got certified as an official Halal meat producer. This certification will help penetrate new markets. No changes were made to the Halal slaughtering process since 2013.”
She pointed out that the halal and non-halal slaughtering processes are almost identical.
“The Halal process involves stunning the animal unconscious, followed by a deep slit in the neck to drain the blood. The bleeding takes less than a minute and leads to the animal’s death,” she said.
“The process for conventional slaughter is nearly identical to the Halal process.. During conventional slaughter, the animal is also stunned but instead of a deep slit in the neck, a single deep piercing of the main artery is made to drain the blood.”
“This process also takes less than a minute to lead to the animal’s death. According to meat producers around the world, it is not possible to produce good quality meat if the animal dies stressed or if the animal is not bled to death.”
She argued that the main difference between the two methods lies in the process itself: halal slaughter is performed by a religiously qualified individual and requires the blood to be discarded, whereas in non-halal methods, slaughterhouse workers carry out the process and the blood is often collected for use in other products.
“So, let’s be honest; when it comes to animals Halal is not the problem – the real concern lies in our exaggerated and continued consumption of meat, and whilst I fully expect the meat industry to take issue with this point, the truth remains the truth, and I stand by it without hesitation,” she said.
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