
The legal aspects of ritual slaughter include the regulation of
slaughterhouse
In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a mea ...
s,
butcher
A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale ...
s, and religious personnel involved with traditional
shechita
In Judaism, ''shechita'' (anglicized: ; ; ; also transliterated ''shehitah, shechitah, shehita'') is ritual slaughtering of certain mammals and birds for food according to ''kashrut''. One who practices this, a kosher butcher is called a ''sho ...
(
Judaism
Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
) and
dhabiha (
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
). Regulations also may extend to
butchery products sold in accordance with
kashrut
(also or , ) is a set of Food and drink prohibitions, dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to halakha, Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed ko ...
and
halal
''Halal'' (; ) is an Arabic word that translates to in English. Although the term ''halal'' is often associated with Islamic dietary laws, particularly meat that is slaughtered according to Islamic guidelines, it also governs ethical practices ...
religious law. Governments regulate ritual slaughter, primarily through
legislation
Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...
and
administrative law
Administrative law is a division of law governing the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law includes executive branch rulemaking (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regul ...
. In addition, compliance with oversight of ritual slaughter is monitored by governmental agencies and, on occasion, contested in
litigation
A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. ...
.
The most controversial aspect of ritual slaughter is the legality of
unstunned slaughter, where
animal welfare
Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...
concerns regularly clash with religious concerns, and split public opinion.
Scope of regulations
In Western countries, law reaches into every stage of ritual slaughter, from the slaughtering of livestock to the sale of kosher or halal meat.
In the United States, for example, courts have ruled that kosher butchers may be excluded from collective bargaining units, a Jewish
beit din (court) may forbid trade with disapproved butchers, retail sellers implicitly stipulate their compliance with rabbinic courts, a state law (NY) may incorporate a rabbinical ruling on kosher labeling, and kashrut symbols may be subject to trade infringement laws.
In ''Jones v. Butz'', the action involved "a challenge, under the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the
First Amendment, to the
Humane Slaughter Act and in particular to the provisions relating to ritual slaughter as defined in the Act and which plaintiffs suggested involved the Government in the dietary preferences of a particular religious (e.g., Orthodox Jews) group. The court held that there is no violation of Establishment Clause because no excessive governmental entanglement and by making it possible for those who wish to eat ritually acceptable meat to slaughter the animal in accordance with the tenets of their faith, Congress neither established the tenets of that faith nor interfered with the exercise of any other."
In the United States religious slaughter is not practiced under any exemption, as is the case in several European legal codes. Instead the
Humane Slaughter Act defines religious slaughter by Jews and Muslims as one of two humane methods for killing animals for food:
by slaughtering in accordance with the ritual requirements of the Islamic and Jewish faith or any other religious faith that prescribes a method of slaughter whereby the animal suffers loss of consciousness by anemia of the brain caused by the simultaneous and instantaneous severance of the carotid arteries with a sharp instrument and handling in connection with such slaughtering. the other being using stunning.
The kosher food industry has challenged regulations as an infringement on religious freedom.
Secular governments also have sought to restrict ritual slaughter not intended for food consumption. In the US, the most prominent such case is ''
Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah''. In this case, the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
ruled unconstitutional a local Florida ban on
Santería
Santería (), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an African diaspora religions, Afro-Caribbean religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose amid a process of syncretism between the traditional ...
ritual
animal sacrifice
Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spread of Chris ...
.
The issue is complicated by allegations of
antisemitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
and
xenophobia
Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...
.
Lastly, recent debate in
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
has been contentious, in part, because of comparisons by a prominent activist between kosher slaughter and the methods used by
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
in
concentration camps
A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...
. The
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
was borrowed from the
vegetarian
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...
and
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
laureate
In English, the word laureate has come to signify eminence or association with literary awards or Military awards and decorations, military glory. It is also used for recipients of the Nobel Prize, the Gandhi Peace Award, the Student Peace Pri ...
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Isaac Bashevis Singer (; 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Poland, Polish-born Jews, Jewish novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, essayist, and translator in the United States. Some of his works were adapted for the theater. He wrote and publish ...
who said "I am not a vegetarian for my own health, but for the health of the chickens" and has one of his fictional characters say, "In relation to
nimals all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka."
Religious slaughter practice
Islamic jurisprudence
A 1935 fatwa by the Mufti of Delhi declared that stunning that does not kill the animal and thus is 'reversible' is allowed under Islamic law.
Al-Azhar rector Muhammad el-Tayyeb el-Naggar confirmed in 1982 that stunning would not make the practice un-Islamic.
Many Muslim authorities accept reversible stunning prior to the cut, such as electrostunning, or concussion with a roundheaded (mushroom-shaped) hammer.
Supreme Leader of Iran ayatollah
Ali Khamenei
Ali Hosseini Khamenei (; born 19 April 1939) is an Iranian cleric and politician who has served as the second supreme leader of Iran since 1989. He previously served as the third President of Iran, president from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei's tenure ...
permits pre-cut stunning, while Iraqi ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani
Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani (; born 4 August 1930) is an Islamic scholar and the dean of the Hawza of Najaf in Iraq. A Grand Ayatollah, Sistani is considered one of the leading religious leaders of Twelver Shia Muslims. After the invasion of ...
forbids it. In 2014, about 85% of halal meat produced by the Muslim community in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
was pre-stunned.
[ The British Veterinary Association's head John Blackwell and vice-president Jonathan Arkush of the ]Board of Deputies of British Jews
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, commonly referred to as the Board of Deputies, is the largest and second oldest Jewish communal organisation in the United Kingdom, after the Initiation Society which was founded in 1745. Established in 17 ...
outline two sides of the public debate on the ritual slaughter of animals.
Jewish jurisprudence
According to Jewish law, slaughter of cattle and poultry is carried out with a single cut to the throat. According to ShechitaUK, '
l forms of mechanical stunning, which may include asphyxiation by gas, electrocution by tongs or water or shooting with a captive bolt gun, cause pain on application and are thus prohibited by Jewish law.' According to rabbi
Norman Solomon (2000), some
Reform Jews regard ethics as more important than diet, and reject the very notion of kosher meat.
Within the North American
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
denomination of Judaism, there is a broad consensus of accepting meat from animals stunned before slaughter as kosher.
Without exception,
Orthodox Jewish communities
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...
uphold the prohibition on stunning before slaughter.
In practice, a requirement for a
shohet (Jewish ritual slaughterer) is that the shohet adheres to a high level of religiosity.
Any kind of prestunning for livestock to be slaughtered according to the Jewish Kosher method has not yet been accepted by orthodox Judaism. In practice, kosher slaughtering is carried out by orthodox shochtim (authorized slaughterers) because the meat produced by Conservative slaughters from the Conservative denomination would not be acceptable to orthodox practising Jews and the limited market that would accept such meat is not commercially viable.
Historic bans (until 1945)
Asia
Some rulers
banned all killing on their land for some period each year, including ritual slaughter.
Beop of Baekje banned all kinds of killing. In 675,
Emperor Tenmu
was the 40th Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 天武天皇 (40) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 53. He ascended ...
, followed by
Empress Genshō
was the 44th monarch of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')元正天皇 (44)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Her reign spanned the years 715 through 724.
Genshō was the fifth of eight women to take on the ...
and
Emperor Shōmu
was the 45th Emperor of Japan, emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 聖武天皇 (45)/ref> according to the traditional List of Emperors of Japan, order of succession. Shōmu's reign spanned the years 724 through 749, duri ...
banned eating meat in Japan.
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi who was Fifth General Shōgun of Edo (Japan) made animal protection laws and when he died, about 8000 criminals (including 3800 in
Edo) who had been convicted of violating the law, were released (see
:ja:生類憐れみの令). According to the Red Annals (Deb-ther Dmar-po),
Möngke Khan
Möngke Khan (also Möngke Khagan or Möngke; 11 January 120911 August 1259) was the fourth khagan of the Mongol Empire, ruling from 1 July 1251 to 11 August 1259. He was the first Khagan from the Toluid line, and made significant reforms to im ...
prohibited
meat eating and killing four days each month.
After conquering
Bago in 1559, King
Bayinnaung
, title = King of Toungoo
, image = Bayinnaung.JPG
, caption = Statue of Bayinnaung in front of the National Museum of Myanmar
, reign = 30 April 1550 – 10 October 1581
, coronation = 11 January 1551 at Taungoo, ...
prohibited the practice of
halal
''Halal'' (; ) is an Arabic word that translates to in English. Although the term ''halal'' is often associated with Islamic dietary laws, particularly meat that is slaughtered according to Islamic guidelines, it also governs ethical practices ...
. Halal slaughter was also forbidden by King
Alaungpaya
Alaungpaya (, ; also spelled Alaunghpaya or Alaung-Phra; 11 May 1760) was the founder and first emperor of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma. By the time of his death from illness during his Burmese–Siamese War (1759–60), campaign in Siam, this ...
in the 18th century.
According to the ''White History of the Tenfold Virtuous Dharma'' (Arban Buyantu Nom-un Caġan Teüke),
Altan Khan ordered the religious code Arban Buyantu Nom-un Cagaja prohibited human and animal sacrifice.
Europe until 1945
In the 1880s,
anti-Semites
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
joined forces with Animal Protection Societies to campaign for anti-shechita legislation to be passed in Switzerland, Germany and
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...
.
[Metcalf, "Regulating Slaughter: Animal Protection and Antisemitism in Scandinavia, 1880–1941", Patterns of Prejudice 23 (1989): pp. 32–48.]
In
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
shechitah was forbidden throughout the whole country in 1893 after having been banned in the
cantons
A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...
of
Aargau
Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau.
Aargau is one of the most nort ...
and
St. Gallen in 1867 after
plebiscites, and later a ban was introduced in the whole of Switzerland after a plebiscite at Federal level. The system of voting on individual policies using referendums (plebiscites) had only recently been introduced. and the first plebiscite in Swiss history was on the subject of banning shechita. The government and all the political parties were against the ban, but the popular sentiment prevailed.
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
banned shechita (Jewish ritual slaughter) of cattle in 1937, and of poultry in 1989. In June, 1937, a law, the effect of which was to abolish Shehitah, was presented to the Riksdag by Karl G. Westman (bondeförbundet) Minister of Justice. It was passed on June 4, 1937, and went into force July 1, 1938.
The law made stunning mandatory before the drawing of blood in slaughtering, but made it apply only to cattle, not to fowl and rabbits, and not to reindeer "until the King shall so decide". For violation, provision was made for fines, the money to go to the crown. Slaughter of poultry without stunning was banned in 1989.
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
banned religious slaughter without pre-stunning in 1929.
Poland enacted mandatory stunning of animals before the drawing of blood since 1 January 1937, however by a ministerial decree an exception for ritual slaughter by religious groups has been enacted the same day. In 1938 the Polish Sejm passed a bill outlawing the exception for religious groups but it has not been accepted by the Senate and was never enacted into law.
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
banned shechita nationwide three months after
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
came to power in 1933. There had been a prior ban in the German state of
Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
, and the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
had supported the Jewish Community of
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heav ...
against Hitler in rejecting the attempts by German officials to confiscate shechita knives and ban Jewish slaughter there as had been done in the German Reich. Bans were introduced in all the countries which the
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
occupied. The first was occupied Poland where the
German Governor-General issued a decree completely outlawing ritual slaughter on October 26, 1939. Similar acts were enacted in the countries of the Axis allies:
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
and
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. Bans introduced by the German
Third Reich
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
and by
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
were removed by Allied Command after the allies had won the second world war in Europe.
In ''Religious Freedom: The Right to Practice Shehitah'', Munk, Munk and Berman documented every ban introduced in every country in Europe up to 1946, and made an analysis that claims that until the rise of Hitler in 1933, the international campaign to introduce ritual slaughter / shehitah bans had failed because the vast majority of countries where legislation had been proposed rejected the legislation realising the involvement of anti-Semites in the campaign and enacted legislation to stave off bans on Jewish and Muslim slaughter.
Europe
In post-war
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, there are three main sources of animal welfare law, namely the conventions and the
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
(ECHR) of the
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...
(CoE), the legislation and
Court of Justice (CJEU) of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
(EU), and the national legislation of European countries, all of which (except
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
and Russia) are
member states of the Council of Europe
The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by ten western and northern European states, with Greece joining three months later, and Iceland, Turkey and West Germany joining the next year. It now has 46 member states, with Montenegro being th ...
, and 27 of which are
member states of the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are party to the EU's founding treaties, and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of membership. They have agreed by the treaties to share their o ...
. While Council of Europe conventions and ECHR rulings only apply to Parties (that is, countries and the EU if they have signed and ratified the relevant treaties), EU legislation and CJEU rulings only apply to EU member states, and these sets of countries don't always overlap; moreover, not all Parties or EU member states may have (properly) implemented their CoE or EU obligations and commitments into national laws yet.
Council of Europe
Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. This includes the freedom to change a religion or belief, and to manifest a religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and ...
, which applies to all member states of the
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...
and came into effect in 1953, provides for a right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion which includes the freedom to manifest a religion or belief in, ''inter alia'', practice and observance, subject only to such restrictions as are "in accordance with law" and "
necessary in a democratic society
"Necessary in a democratic society" is a test found in Articles 8–11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides that the state may impose restrictions of these rights only if such restrictions are "necessary in a democratic soci ...
." Preliminary discussions of the Convention referred specifically to religious ritual slaughter bans.
[New challenges for Islamic ritual slaughtering: a European perspective, F. Bergeaud-Blackler]
br />pages 9–10 "Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland as well as six Austrian provinces allow no exemption to pre-mortem stunning of the animal. Conversely, this exemption is granted in France, UK, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Conditions for exemption are not always the same in all countries. For instance, in Spain exemptions only apply to sheep and goats but not to cattle."
page 14 "Eventually, in 2002, the German constitutional court granted to a Muslim butcher the right to slaughter without stunning similarly to Jewish butchers"
The
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
ruled in the 2024 case ''Executief van de Moslims van België and Others v. Belgium'' that legal requirements to stun animals, in a way that is reversible, before the cutting performed during ritual slaughter are compatible with the Convention. The court decided that there was no violation of article 9 or
article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights and that the laws were justified in trying to protect animal welfare.
The
European Convention for the Protection of Animals for Slaughter (1979, revised 1991), another Council of Europe treaty, generally requires stunning before slaughter, but allows its Parties to permit exemptions for religious slaughter: "Each Contracting Party may authorise derogations from the provisions concerning prior stunning in the following cases: – slaughtering in accordance with religious rituals...."
European Union
There is no EU legal requirement for meat from unstunned animals to be labelled as such, and EU-wide proposals for mandatory labelling have been strongly resisted. This leads to confusion amongst consumers, who often cannot know whether certain products are the result of unstunned ritual slaughter.
The
European Court of Justice
The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...
has ruled in 2019 that the
organic production logo of the European Union cannot be placed on meat derived from animals that have been slaughtered without prior stunning.
The
European Food Safety Authority
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) that provides independent scientific advice and communicates on existing and emerging risks associated with the food chain. EFSA was established in February 2002 ...
(EFSA) recommended in 2004 that "due to the serious animal welfare concerns associated with slaughter without stunning, pre-cut stunning should always be performed". The 22 June 2009 EU Slaughter Regulation, approved by the EU Agriculture Council, allowed religious slaughter without stunning to continue.
The European Court of Justice has confirmed in 2018 that ritual slaughter without stunning may take place only in an approved slaughterhouse. Moreover, on 17 December 2020 it ruled that member states of the European Union may require a reversible pre-cut stunning procedure in order to promote animal welfare.
Some European states have banned unstunned ritual slaughter, while others have not. Meat from unstunned animals can be freely exported and imported between states in the
Schengen Area
The Schengen Area ( , ) encompasses European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their common borders. As an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) policy of the European Union (EU), it ...
.
EU member state laws
Austria
A complete prohibition on unstunned ritual slaughter was ruled unconstitutional by the
Austrian Constitutional Court on 17 December 1998, as pre-cut stunning was deemed too much of a limitation on freedom of religion and thought; however, the Court acknowledged that the freedom of religion and thought could be restricted if it violated other rights and freedoms.
Post-cut stunned slaughter was introduced as the minimum in the province of
Lower Austria
Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...
in 2001.
[EU Commission report on Animal Health in Austria, p. 16.]
/ref> The 2004 Animal Protection Act (Bundesgesetz über den Schutz der Tiere; Tierschutzgesetz – TSchG) made post-cut stunning the nationwide mandatory minimum.
Belgium
Unstunned conventional slaughter was banned in Wallonia
Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...
in June 2018; unstunned ritual slaughter was banned in September 2018. Unstunned ritual slaughter was banned in Flanders
Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
in January 2019. Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
still allows for unstunned ritual slaughter, but banned home slaughter in December 2017, and expected to debate a total ban on unstunned slaughter soon. Several Jewish and Islamic organisations challenged the Flemish ban at the Belgian Constitutional Court, which referred the matter to the European Court of Justice. On 17 December 2020, the European Court of Justice confirmed that the Flemish legal requirement of reversible stunned slaughter was not in violation of European Union law on religious freedom, and that EU member states have the right to introduce such requirements in order to promote animal welfare. In response, Brussels Minister of Animal Welfare Bernard Clerfayt
Bernard Clerfayt (; born 30 December 1961, in Uccle) is a Belgian politician. He has been the mayor of Schaerbeek since 2001 and is currently vice-president of the Front Démocratique des Francophones (FDF). As is common in Belgium, he holds a ...
stated that this ruling reinvigorated the debate on mandatory stunning in the Brussels Capital Region, and called for a 'serene discussion with all parties involved to find a good balance between animal welfare and freedom of religion.'
Denmark
In February 2014, Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Dan Jørgensen signed a regulation which banned ritual slaughter of animals without prior stunning. Prior to this, religious groups could file for an exemption to the law that required stunning if they wanted to slaughter without prior stunning, although no groups had applied for such exemption. At the time, all halal slaughter in Denmark was performed with prior stunning, while kosher slaughter (which does not allow stunning) had not been practiced in Denmark since around 2004, all kosher meat being imported. In spite of this, the Muslim and Jewish Communities in Denmark strongly opposed the decree, arguing that it constituted an infringement upon religious freedom.[Nelson, Sarah C. (18 February 2014]
& Kosher Slaughter Banned In Denmark As Minister Insists 'Animal Rights Come Before Religion'
The Huffungton Post, Retrieved 19 February 2014
Finland
Finland's law on slaughter dates from the 1930s and allows post-stunning thereby permitting kosher slaughter and providing certain legislative protection for some forms of Muslim slaughter. Dhabhiha (halal slaughter) is practised in Finland, but there are not sufficient resources for Jewish slaughter, and all kosher meat is imported. In Åland
Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...
the law prohibits bleeding to death unless animals have been previously stunned or directly killed.
Paragraph 4 of the 1934 Act (enacted 14 April 1934), reads:
It is forbidden to slaughter a domestic animal in any other way, except to render the animal insensible immediately before bleeding. ''Whenever religious reasons so demand'', let it be allowed by the Ministry of Agriculture, in such a way, that the animal is rendered insensible immediately after the arteries have been swiftly cut, but in such a case the veterinarian of the institution must be present personally to supervise the slaughtering[No 163. ''Statute for the Protection of Domestic Animals,'' Par. 4, "Suomen Asetuskokoelma," 1934]
During 1996, the debate over the practice of shechita (Jewish religious slaughter of animals) in Finland continued. Although a motion to pass a law prohibiting shechita (on animal rights grounds) was defeated in December 1995, thereby allowing the practice to continue in Finland (on the condition that the slaughtering takes place simultaneously with a stunning blow), parties opposed to shehitah were not satisfied. The debate has spanned several years, became an election issue during the 1995 general election and often took on an unpleasant tone, as the proponents of the ban (some of whom were politicians) equated shehitah with female circumcision and mutilation.
France
Ritual slaughter is permitted, with some restrictions.
In ''Jewish Liturgical Association Cha'are Shalom Ve Tsedek v. France'', 27 June 2000,[Jewish Liturgical Association Cha'are Shalom Ve Tsedek v. France]
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
, No. 27417/95, 27 June 2000 (App No. 27417/95) the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
interpreted Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...
in a case involving a lawsuit by Glatt kosher slaughterers against a French law recognizing a non-Glatt association (the ACIP) as having the exclusive right to conduct Jewish ritual slaughter in France.
The Court stated that ritual slaughter is a practice covered by the Article 9's guarantee of the right to manifest religious observance:
It is not contested that ritual slaughter, as indeed its name indicates, constitutes a rite or "rite"...whose purpose is to provide Jews with meat from animals slaughtered in accordance with religious prescriptions, which is an essential aspect of practice of the Jewish religion...It follows that the applicant association can rely on Article 9 of the Convention with regard to the French authorities' refusal to approve it, since ritual slaughter must be considered to be covered by a right guaranteed by the Convention, namely the right to manifest one's religion in observance, within the meaning of Article 9.
The Court then clarified the scope of Article 9, holding that it applies only to restrictions which would prevent consumers from being able to obtain ritually slaughtered meat:
In the Court's opinion, there would be interference with the freedom to manifest one's religion only if the illegality of performing ritual slaughter made it impossible for ultra-orthodox Jews to eat meat from animals slaughtered in accordance with the religious prescriptions they considered applicable. But that is not the case. It is not contested that the applicant association can easily obtain supplies of "glatt" meat in Belgium. Furthermore, it is apparent from the written depositions and bailiffs' official reports produced by the interveners that a number of butcher's shops operating under the control of the ACIP make meat certified "glatt" by the Beth Din available to Jews.
Thus, under the Court of Human Rights' interpretation (not unanimous) of the European Convention on Human Rights in the Cha'are Shalom case, restrictions on ritual slaughter are permissible, but only if they do not prevent religious adherents from obtaining religiously slaughtered meat.
Germany
On 15 January 2002 the German Federal Constitutional Court held that the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany () is the constitution of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany.
The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came into effect on 23 May after having been approved b ...
provides a broader guarantee of human rights in the area of religious freedom than the European Convention on Human Rights. In an appeal by a Turkish citizen who practiced Islamic ritual slaughter, the German court struck down Germany's former ban on ritual slaughter, holding that the German Basic Law's guarantee of religious freedom prohibited the German government from applying a law requiring stunning prior to slaughter to observant Muslims who practice ritual slaughter for religious reasons, and that the Basic Law's guarantee of religious freedom applies to slaughterers as well as consumers of meat.[1 BvR 1783/99 of 01/15/2002]
, German Federal Constitutional Court
The German court held that under Article 2.1 of the German Basic Law, religious slaughterers have a distinct fundamental right to practice a religiously recognized vocation. It also explained that merely permitting importation of ritually slaughtered meat is inadequate to protect the religious rights of individuals under Articles 4.1 and 4.2 of the German Basic Law (Constitution) because personal contact is important to ensuring compliance with religious requirements. It held that an exemption from laws that conflicted with this was therefore mandated:
It is true that the consumption of imported meat makes such renunciation f meat-eatingdispensable; however, due to the fact that in this case, personal contact with the butcher and the confidence that goes with such contact do not exist, the consumption of imported meat is fraught with the insecurity whether the meat really complies with the commandments of Islam....Under these circumstances, an exemption from the mandatory stunning of warm-blooded animals before their blood is drained cannot be precluded if the intention connected with this exemption is to facilitate, on the one hand, the practice of a profession with a religious character, which is protected by fundamental rights, and, on the other hand, the observation of religious dietary laws by the customers of the person practicing the occupation in question. Without such exemptions, the fundamental rights of those who want to perform slaughter without stunning as their occupation would be unreasonably restricted, and the interests of the protection of animals would, without a sufficient constitutional justification, be given priority in a one-sided manner.
Latvia
Latvia
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
legalised ritual slaughter in 2009. Halal meat products are exported to Sweden and animals are slaughtered using post-cut stunning.
Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
has required since at least 1995 that animals be stunned prior to being slaughtered, and previously did not provide any exception for religious slaughter. The 1995 regulation has since been repealed and replaced by one that transposes European Union Regulation (EC) No. 1099/2009 of 24 September 2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing into Luxembourger law. Under this new regulation, there now is an exception for religious slaughter, subject to authorization by the government upon written request on the part of the religious authority.
Netherlands
Ritual slaughter is permitted, and regulated by a special convention concerning ritual slaughter.
The Party for the Animals
The Party for the Animals ( , PvdD) is a List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare. The PvdD was founded in 2002 as a single-issue party for animal ...
( Dutch: ''Partij voor de Dieren''; PvdD) was voted into the Dutch Parliament's Lower House with two MPs in 2006, increased to 6 MPs in 2017. Their election program had been to introduce an effective ban on ritual slaughter: Jewish shechita and Muslim dhabiha. The bill was passed in the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament with 116 votes to 30. Debate over the matter swiftly became a focus of animosity towards the Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
' 1.2 million-strong Muslim community. The country's Jewish population is comparatively small at 50,000.
Following months of debate a last-minute concession was offered—the Muslim and Jewish communities would have a year to provide evidence that animals slaughtered by traditional methods do not experience greater pain than those that are stunned before they are killed.
Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks visited the Netherlands in May 2011 to lobby against the ban, arguing that pre-stunning failed in up to 10 per cent of cases and that caused more pain than the swift cutting of the throat by a razor-sharp knife. He blamed the vote on "a mischievous campaign by the animal rights lobby, based on emotive images and questionable science."
Dr. Joe Regenstein of Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
prepared
Preliminary Report
for the Dutch government in May 2011. The Dutch Senate (Upper House) held a long debate, and voted down the bill. Ritual slaughter is to proceed as before, with a provision for post-cut stunning should the animal survive for more than 40 seconds. According to various individuals and groups, the stunned animal will be neither halal or kosher.
Only the Freedom Party of Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders (born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives. Wilders is best known for his right-wing p ...
, the Socialist Party, and the Animal Party wanted to forbid ritual slaughter in The Netherlands.
Since 1 January 2018, a new regulation has been implemented that animals must lose consciousness within 40 seconds, otherwise stunning is required. Rumours spread that some Islamic abattoirs had started to stun animals before the cut, prompting conservative Muslims in July to raise concerns whether the meat would still be halal. The Utrecht Mosques Partnership called for a boycott of all Dutch meat during Eid al-Adha
Eid al-Adha () is the second of the two main festivals in Islam alongside Eid al-Fitr. It falls on the 10th of Dhu al-Hijja, the twelfth and final month of the Islamic calendar. Celebrations and observances are generally carried forward to the ...
in August, forsaking the traditional sacrifice. They recommended having an animal sacrificed abroad and the meat imported until the availability of what they consider 'halal' meat within the Netherlands can be guaranteed. However, the Associations of Imams in the Netherlands (VIN) criticised the move, stressing the importance of ritual sacrifice in Islam, and saying the boycott 'violated divine law'.
Poland
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
banned slaughter of non-stunned animals in January, 2013, thus losing to neighbouring countries, such as Lithuania
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
, an annual half-a-billion euro
The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
export trade to Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
, Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
and other Muslim-majority nations. The claim was made by animal rights activists that kosher slaughter represented cruelty to animals. The legal developments were complex, involving a government amendment to a law requiring all animals to be stunned prior to slaughter. The amendment allowed an exception to protect the religious freedoms of Poland's tiny Jewish and Muslim communities. The Jewish and Muslim Lipka Tatars communities in Poland jointly protested against the ban.
After pressure from animal rights groups, the Constitutional Court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...
quashed the amendment on the grounds that it is not permissible to amend a law so that the original intention of the law is contradicted. In December 2014, the Polish Constitutional Court overturned the ban on kosher and halal slaughter since the protection of animals "does not take priority over constitutional guarantees of religious freedom," with Judge Maria Gintowt-Jankowicz stating in her final verdict that "the constitution guarantees the freedom of religion which includes the carrying out of all activities, practices, rites and rituals which have a religious character."[''Polish ban on kosher slaughter of animals is overturned'' BBC](_blank)
/ref>
In 2020, The Polish government had plans to ban the export of kosher and halal meat. They would later drop this plan.
Slovenia
In 2012, Slovenia amended its Animal Welfare Act to ban all forms of ritual slaughter. A group of Muslims requested the Constitutional Court to review the law, arguing unstunned ritual slaughter was a key part of the Islamic religion and therefore protected by the freedom of religion. However, the Court unanimously upheld the Act in 2018, stating that 'the Constitution did not allow easily preventable suffering to be inflicted on animals without a justified cause', and that this provision did 'not disproportionally interfere' with religious freedom.
Spain
Animal welfare is controlled under the provisions of the ''Animal Welfare Act 32/2007, of November 7th''. Article 6 of the act concerns slaughter of animals, including ritual slaughter:
When the slaughter of animals is carried out according to the rites of Churches, religious denominations or communities registered in the Register of Religious Entities, and the stunning requirements are inconsistent with the rules of the respective religious rite, the competent authorities will not demand the compliance with such requirements provided that the procedure is carried out within the limits referred to in Article 3 of the ''Organic Law no. 7 of 5 July 1980 on Religious Freedom''. In any case, the slaughter according to whatever religious rite shall be carried out under the supervision and according to the instructions of the official veterinarian. The slaughterhouse shall notify the competent authority that it will carry out this kind of slaughter in order to have it registered for this purpose, without prejudice to the authorisation provided for in the European Community legislation.[ ]
Sweden
All domestic animals must be stunned before slaughter.["Swedish Animal Welfare Act, 1988"](_blank)
"Domestic animals shall be stunned before being bled prior to slaughter. No other measures may be taken in connection with slaughter until the animal is dead." Ritual slaughter of cattle without stunning has been prohibited since 1937, and of poultry since 1989. Halal slaughter of stunned animals takes place in Sweden.[ Eurogroup for Animals (2009) Religious slaughter – state of play.]
In the rest of Europe the legal situation of ritual slaughter differs from country to country. While some countries have introduced bans, other countries—the US, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands—introduced legislation protecting shehitah.[Italian bioethic committee Report on Ritual slaughtering and animal suffering]
Annex 3
Non-EU CoE member state laws
Norway
"The debate on Jewish religious slaughter in Norway first evolved in the animal protection movement in the late 1890s, but did not become a public matter until the Jews of Norway's capital Kristiania (now Oslo) were forced by the city authorities to abandon the practice of kosher slaughter (shehitah) within the city borders in 1913. From that moment and until the law prohibiting the practice on a national level was adopted by the Norwegian parliament on 12 June 1929, the debate made the headlines on several occasions in Norwegian newspapers in the interwar years. Hundreds of articles, letters and editorials discussed the case which was known as the «Schächtning-affair».1 The issue received especially much attention from the nationalist right-wing of the Agrarian movement, and the Jewish slaughter practice became subject to a massive campaign from the Agrarian press and from Agrarian party members of parliament. In its final phase during the 1920s, many of the critics were also heavily influenced by the modern anti-Semitic ideology that had evolved in Germany since the late 1870s. One of the most quoted statements from the debate was made by the Agrarian MP, and later prime minister Jens Hundseid (1883–1965) during the conclusive parliamentary session on 12 June 1929: «We have no obligation to deliver our domestic animals to the cruelties of the Jews, we have not invited the Jews to this country, and we have no obligation to provide the Jews animals to their religious orgies»."
Norway copied the Swiss campaign to ban ritual slaughter. The same arguments were presented as in the Swiss campaign and an appeal was made by the Jewish community to the Norwegian parliament not to introduce the legislation. After the ban was introduced, Norwegian Jews imported kosher meat from Sweden until it was banned there too.
In the 1890s, protests were raised in the Norwegian press against the practice of shechita. The Jewish community responded to these objections by assuring the public that the method was in fact humane. Efforts to ban shechita put sincere humane society activists in league with antisemitic
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
individuals. Those opposing the ban included Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and co-founded the ...
, but the division on the issue crossed party lines in all mainstream parties, except the Farmer's Party, which was principled in its opposition to schechita.
The Food Health regulations were controversial, especially the stunning requirement, as they would lead to a fundamental change in the meat producing market. A committee was commissioned on 11 February 1927 that consulted numerous experts and visited a slaughterhouse in Copenhagen. Its majority favored the changes and found support in the Department of Agriculture and the parliamentary agriculture committee. Those who opposed a ban spoke of religious tolerance, and also claimed that schechita was no more inhumane than other slaughter methods. C J Hambro was one of those most appalled by the discussion, claiming that "where animal rights are protected to an exaggerated extent, it usually is done with the help of human sacrifice"
Switzerland
The Swiss banned unstunned slaughter in 1893 after a plebiscite so that a law requiring stunning prior to blood letting (exsanguination) was included in the Swiss Constitution. This required every abattoir to stun animals before slaughter, including Jewish and Islamic ones. The plebiscite had been preceded by a long anti-Semitic campaign, in which Jews were supported by Catholics, who had suffered under Otto von Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...
in his anti-Catholic '' Kulturkampf''. Catholic priests gave sermons encouraging their parishioners to vote against the effective ban, and the results of the referendum showed that French-speaking Cantons had voted against the ban, but that German-speaking Protestant cantons had voted for the ban.
In Switzerland, a ban on kosher slaughter has been enforced since 1897, when the people supported this measure through a referendum with clear anti-Semitic undertones. At the time, Jews had recently been granted full civil rights and some Swiss citizens feared an invasion of Jewish migrants from Eastern Europe, who they considered to be unassimilable, foreign, and unreliable. By banning the performance of a core Jewish ritual, the Swiss people found a disguised way to limit the immigration of Jews into Switzerland.[Anti-Shechita]
Modiya, 2004?, accessed 18 September 2006
According to the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour "Ritual slaughter (the bleeding to death of animals that have not first been stunned) was made illegal in the country in 1893; however, a 1978 Law on the Protection of Animals explicitly allows for the importation of kosher and halal meat. Imported from France and Germany, this meat is available in the country at comparable prices. In 2003, a popular initiative to protect animal rights and prohibit the import of meat from animals bled without stunning was filed; in December 2005, however, the sponsors withdrew their initiative before it had been submitted to a national vote after Parliament adopted a revision of the Law on the Protection of Animals."
The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG), founded in 1904, regards the 1893 ban on unstunned slaughter as antisemitic.
There was a backlash against a proposal to lift the ban in 2002. "In 2002, when the Swiss government attempted to lift the century-old ban, animal rights activists, political groups (on the left and the right), and unaffiliated citizens expressed strong opposition. They called shechita practice a "barbaric" and "sanguinary", an "archaic tradition from the time of the ghettos", and asked Jews to either become vegetarian or leave the country."[
]
= Proposals to extend ban to imports
=
Switzerland has considered extending the ban in order to prohibit importing kosher products. The Swiss Animal Association called for a referendum on banning kosher imports.[Dickter, Adam]
Fear over European kosher bans
World Jewish Review, July 2002 Christopher Blocher, a cabinet minister for the Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party (, SVP; , PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (, UDC; , UDC), is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Marcel Dettling, it is the largest party in ...
, has supported calls to ban the import of kosher and halal meat.[Wistrich, Robert S.]
"European Anti-Semitism Reinvents Itself"
, American Jewish Committee, 2005, pg 10 "A recent survey showed more than three-quarters of the population said they would like to see their government ban even the import of kosher meat." Erwin Kessler, president of ''Verein gegen Tierfabrik (Association against animal factories)'' who has several convictions for racial offenses, including the comparison of Jewish ritual slaughter of animals with the Nazi treatment of Jews, has been campaigning vigorously for this. He's 40,000 short of the 100,000 signatures needed to trigger a referendum to completely ban kosher and halal meat entering Switzerland. Kessler has inflamed the controversy by publicly quoting vegetarian and literature Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer
Isaac Bashevis Singer (; 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Poland, Polish-born Jews, Jewish novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, essayist, and translator in the United States. Some of his works were adapted for the theater. He wrote and publish ...
comparing kosher slaughter to the methods used by Nazis in concentration camps, but denies that his motives are anti-semitic."[Transcription: Ritual Slaughter Ban](_blank)
Living on Earth, republished by Vegans Represent 10 June 2003, accessed 18 September 2006
In June 2017, MP Matthias Aebischer (Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Form ...
) proposed a bill to ban the import of meat from animals that have undergone ritual slaughter. The bill also included a ban on foie gras
; (, ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a Domestic duck, duck or Domestic goose, goose. According to French law, ''foie gras'' is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by ''gavage'' (force feeding).
''Foie gras'' i ...
, which is controversial because it is produced by forcefeeding geese which is widely considered cruel, despite being popular amongst especially French-speaking Swiss.
Turkey
Stunning is not required in Turkey. Animal welfare organisations such as Eyes on Animals have been campaigning to raise awareness amongst slaughterhouses, religious leaders and consumers that stunning does not contravene Islamic law, and to voluntarily choose to perform or promote stunning, or buy products obtained through stunned ritual slaughter. In 2019, the large conservative sect İsmailağa publicly declared that stunning animals is halal, and as of July 2020, the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture was considering the introduction of a law that would mandate the painless killing of animals. Some companies have already started stunning animals because it's quicker, safer and cleaner, while the public is slowly accepting meat from stunned animals as halal.
United Kingdom
Unstunned religious slaughter is legal in the UK. However, its legality is hotly debated by various religious and political groups and individuals. Both Muslims and non-Muslims, Jews and non-Jews are divided over the question whether meat from stunned animals is to be considered halal or kosher, and thus whether a ban on unstunned slaughter would or would not constitute a violation of the religious freedom of those Jews and Muslims who claim to have a right to consume meat from unstunned animals. Meanwhile, some animal welfare activists and groups argue that slaughter should be banned entirely, regardless of alleged justification.
In 2003, the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), which advises the British government on how to avoid cruelty to livestock, stated the way Jewish Kosher and Muslim Halal meat is produced causes severe suffering to animals, and recommend the British government to ban Jewish and Muslim ritual slaughter (shechita and dhabihah). The British government rejected FAWC's advice. This elicited responses from shechita uk, and from Dr S. D. Rosen This is a continuation of a public debate that dates back to the founding or the Animal Protection Societies in the 1890s.
S. D. Rosen's conclusion in a ''Viewpoint'' article in ''The Veterinary Record'' is that "Shechita (kosher slaughter) is a painless and humane method of animal slaughter".
Food Standards Agency
The Food Standards Agency is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting public health in relation to food in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is led by a board appoin ...
figures from 2012 showed that more than 80% of animals are stunned before slaughter for halal meat in the UK.
The debate in the UK resurfaced in spring 2014 after Denmark prohibited unstunned slaughter in February that year. It began with a 6 March 2014 article of three page long in ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' by the British Veterinary Association's president John Blackwell, who claimed that in ritual slaughter the animal must be alive when its throat is cut and die from loss of blood, annually causing more than 600,000 animals in Britain unnecessary suffering. Vice-president Jonathan Arkush of the Board of Deputies of British Jews
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, commonly referred to as the Board of Deputies, is the largest and second oldest Jewish communal organisation in the United Kingdom, after the Initiation Society which was founded in 1745. Established in 17 ...
confronted Blackwell the same day on ''The Today Programme
''Today'', colloquially known as ''the Today programme'', is BBC Radio 4's long-running morning news and current-affairs radio programme. Broadcast on Monday to Saturday from 06:00 to 09:00 (starting on Saturday at 07:00), it is produced by BB ...
'' by saying that "animals that are killed for the Jewish and Muslim markets do ''not'' bleed to death." He claimed that cutting an animal's throat "instantly" renders an animal "insensible to pain and unconscious", while on the other hand "pre-stunning fails to stun in between 9 and 31% of cases, depending on which animal welfare charity you go to", attributing the 9% figure to the RSPCA. Blackwell retorted that there is strong scientific evidence that, depending on the species, the animal remains conscious after the throat cut for an average of 7 seconds in sheep
Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...
to up to 2 minutes in cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...
, which is "unacceptable from a welfare point of view". Some Muslim and Jewish commentators accused Blackwell and his supporters of anti-Muslim or anti-Semitic prejudice, but Blackwell insisted that he respected religious beliefs and that "the Danish unilateral banning as donepurely for animal welfare reasons, which is right". Numerous animal welfare societies backed Blackwell's position. National Secular Society
The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. The Soc ...
campaigner Stephen Evans argued that the scientific consensus was clear that stunning was better for animal welfare, and that it was "therefore both reasonable and appropriate to suggest that, unless religious communities can agree on more humane slaughter methods, their right to religious freedom should, in this instance, be limited in the interests of animal welfare."
On the day the controversy began on 6 April 2014, it was reported that about 80 to 85% of halal meat produced by the Muslim community in the United Kingdom was pre-stunned. However, the percentage of unstunned slaughtered animals within the British halal meat industry grew by around 60% in the ten months after this controversy began, following a Muslim campaign to change the practice.
Other countries
In the rest of Europe the legal situation of ritual slaughter differs from country to country. While some countries have introduced bans, other countries—the US, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands—introduced legislation protecting shehitah.[
]
Canada
Unstunned ritual slaughter is legal in Canada, provided that the food animals do not otherwise experience any other 'avoidable suffering'. According to the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (latest revision enacted in June 2019), section 141, any licensed slaughterer must stun food animals either by concussion (a), electric shock (b) or gassing (c); however, section 144 exempts licensed ritual slaughterers from the obligation of section 141 to first stun food animals before cutting their throats in order 'to comply with Judaic or Islamic law'.
India
The 1960 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act is the legal basis of animal protection in India. Provision 11 states that it is illegal for 'any person... o treatany animal so as to subject it to unnecessary pain or suffering or causes, or being the owner permits, any animal to be so treated', and that such mistreatment is punishable with fines or prison sentences. However, it also states that this does not apply 'to the preparation for destruction of any animal as food for mankind unless such destruction or preparation was accompanied by the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering'. Moreover, provision 28 states 'Nothing contained in this Act shall render it an offence to kill any animal in a manner required by the religion of any community.' theoretically leaving open the option of unstunned ritual slaughter. On the other hand, stunning is required for animal slaughterhouses according to provision 6 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, 2001, and provision 3 states that slaughter is only permitted in recognised or licensed slaughterhouses. The Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulation, 2011 provides more precise stipulations surrounding the welfare of animals during the slaughter process, including that 'Animals are slaughtered by being first stunned and then exsanguinated (bled out). (...) Stunning before slaughter should be mandatory.'[ (pdf)] It further stipulates which three methods are legal ( asphyxiation, mechanical concussion (gunshot or captive bolt pistol
A captive bolt pistol (also known as a captive bolt gun, a cattle gun, a stunbolt gun, a bolt gun, a stun gun and a stunner) is a device used for the stunning of animals prior to slaughter.
A captive bolt pistol is intended to deliver a single ...
), and electronarcosis), the conditions in which these should be performed (such as separate spaces out of sight of other animals, with the proper equipment and the requirement that 'all operators involved are well trained and have a positive attitude towards the welfare of animals'), and explains why these are conducive to animal welfare. The regulation does not mention any exceptions or exemptions for religious or ritual slaughter.
According to ''The Times of India
''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'', as of 2012, most abbatoirs in India employed electronarcosis at 70 volt
The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, Voltage#Galvani potential vs. electrochemical potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units, International System of Uni ...
s to render animals unconscious before slaughter. As for unstunned ritual slaughter, scientific, religious and popular opinion remains divided on the question whether the dhabihah
In Islamic law, ''dhabihah'' (; ), also spelled ''zabiha'', is the prescribed method of slaughter for halal animals (excluding fish, which are exempt from this requirement). It consists of a swift, deep incision to the throat with a very sharp kn ...
method (generally preferred by Muslims) or the jhatka
Jhatka () is a method of slaughtering an animal for meat by a single strike of a sword or axe to sever its head within the Sikh and Hindu religions. This kills the animal almost instantly as opposed to other forms of slaughter. This type of slaug ...
method (generally preferred by Sikhs) leads to less pain and stress and a quicker death for the animal in question. Indian Muslim scholars also disagree whether meat from animals that are stunned prior to ritual slaughter is to be considered halal
''Halal'' (; ) is an Arabic word that translates to in English. Although the term ''halal'' is often associated with Islamic dietary laws, particularly meat that is slaughtered according to Islamic guidelines, it also governs ethical practices ...
, with some saying it is, and others saying it is not.
New Zealand
In May 2010, Minister of Agriculture David Carter issued a ban on kosher slaughter, rejecting the recommendations of his advisors. At that time, halal slaughterhouses were already required to stun their animals prior to killing. Carter held shares in a firm which exports meat and prior to instituting the ban he met senior managers of the firm who wanted a ban on kosher slaughter to reduce their competition. In November 2010, the ban on kosher slaughter of chickens was overturned, but the ban on kosher slaughter of beef was still in effect and kosher beef had to be imported from Australia. In June 2011 the World Jewish Congress adopted a resolution calling on the New Zealand Government to abrogate its ban on kosher slaughter. According to the Commercial Slaughter Code of Welfare, updated on 1 October 2018, all religious slaughter in New Zealand requires pre-cut stunning, with the exception of Jewish (kosher) slaughter of poultry.
United States
The United States is one of the countries that has legislation for protection of shechita (Jewish) and dhabihah (Muslim) ritual slaughter.
The Humane Slaughter Act defines ritual slaughter as one of two humane methods of slaughter.
Since 1958 the United States has prohibited the shackling and hoisting of cattle without stunning them first.
In Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah 508 U.S. 520 (1993), the United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
struck down a ban imposed by the City of Hialeah, Florida, on Santería
Santería (), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an African diaspora religions, Afro-Caribbean religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose amid a process of syncretism between the traditional ...
religious animal sacrifices practiced by the Church as contravening the religious freedoms guaranteed by the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...
. While the City of Hialeah claimed that its ban on ritual slaughter "not for the primary purpose of food consumption" was motivated by concerns for animal welfare and public health, the Supreme Court held that ample evidence showed that it was in fact motivated by animosity to the Santería religion and a desire to suppress it:
That the ordinances were enacted "'because of,' not merely 'in spite of'", their suppression of Santería religious practice is revealed by the events preceding enactment of the ordinances. The minutes and taped excerpts of the 9 June session, both of which are in the record, evidence significant hostility exhibited by residents, members of the city council, and other city officials toward the Santería religion and its practice of animal sacrifice. The public crowd that attended the 9 June meetings interrupted statements by council members critical of Santería with cheers and the brief comments of Pichardo with taunts. When Councilman Martinez, a supporter of the ordinances, stated that in pre-revolution Cuba "people were put in jail for practicing this religion", the audience applauded. Other statements by members of the city council were in a similar vein. For example, Councilman Martinez, after noting his belief that Santería was outlawed in Cuba, questioned, "if we could not practice this eligionin our homeland uba why bring it to this country?" Councilman Cardoso said that Santería devotees at the Church "are in violation of everything this country stands for." Various Hialeah city officials made comparable comments. The chaplain of the Hialeah Police Department told the city council that Santería was a sin, "foolishness", "an abomination to the Lord", and the worship of "demons." He advised the city council that "We need to be helping people and sharing with them the truth that is found in Jesus Christ." He concluded: "I would exhort you . . . not to permit this Church to exist." The city attorney commented that Resolution 87-66 indicated that "This community will not tolerate religious practices which are abhorrent to its citizens...." Similar comments were made by the deputy city attorney. This history discloses the object of the ordinances to target animal sacrifice by Santería worshippers because of its religious motivation.
In sum, the neutrality inquiry leads to one conclusion: The ordinances had as their object the suppression of religion. The pattern we have recited discloses animosity to Santería adherents and their religious practices; the ordinances by their own terms target this religious exercise; the texts of the ordinances were gerrymandered with care to proscribe religious killings of animals but to exclude almost all secular killings; and the ordinances suppress much more religious conduct than is necessary in order to achieve the legitimate ends asserted in their defense. These ordinances are not neutral, and the court below committed clear error in failing to reach this conclusion
The Court also found that the city's proffered reasons for its ban simply did not explain or justify it.
Respondent claims that he ordinancesadvance two interests: protecting the public health and preventing cruelty to animals. The ordinances are underinclusive for those ends. They fail to prohibit non religious conduct that endangers these interests in a similar or greater degree than Santería sacrifice does. The underinclusion is substantial, not inconsequential. Despite the city's proffered interest in preventing cruelty to animals, the ordinances are drafted with care to forbid few killings but those occasioned by religious sacrifice. Many types of animal deaths or kills for nonreligious reasons are either not prohibited or approved by express provision.
Temple Grandin, who is both an animal welfare activist and the leading American designer of commercial slaughterhouses, has outlined techniques for humane ritual slaughter. She considers shackling and hoisting of animals for slaughter to be inhumane, and has developed alternative approaches usable in production plants. Grandin has coordinated this with the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative movement in the United States, and in 2000 the Committee voted to accept her approach, ruling that "Now that kosher, humane slaughter using upright pens is both possible and widespread, we find shackling and hoisting to be a violation of Jewish laws forbidding cruelty to animals and requiring that we avoid unnecessary dangers to human life. As the CJLS, then, we rule that shackling and hoisting should be stopped."
In an investigation by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; ) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president.
Founded in March 1980 by Newkirk and animal rights ...
, undercover video was obtained of kosher slaughtering practices at a major kosher slaughterhouse run by Agriprocessors
Agriprocessors was the corporate identity of a slaughterhouse and Meat packing industry, meat-packaging factory based in Postville, Iowa, Postville, Iowa, best known as a facility for the Kosher foods, glatt kosher Food processing, processing o ...
in Postville
Postville is a city in Allamakee County, Iowa, Allamakee and Clayton County, Iowa, Clayton counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. It lies near the junction of four counties and at the intersection of U.S. Routes U.S. Route 18 in Iowa, 18 and U.S. Ro ...
, Iowa. The methods used there involved clamping the animals into a box which is then inverted for slaughter, followed by partial dismemberment of the animal before it was dead. Those methods have been condemned as unnecessarily cruel by PETA and others, including Grandin and the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, but are endorsed by the Orthodox Union
The Orthodox Union (abbreviated OU) is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. Founded in 1898, the OU supports a network of synagogues, youth programs, Jewish and Religious Zionist advocacy programs, programs f ...
, which supervises the slaughterhouse. An investigation by the USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commerc ...
resulted in some minor operational changes. A lawsuit under Iowa law is pending. Grandin's comment was "I thought it was the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen. I couldn't believe it. I've been in at least 30 other kosher slaughter plants, and I had never ever seen that kind of procedure done before. ...
I've seen kosher slaughter really done right, so the problem here is not kosher slaughter. The problem here is a plant that is doing everything wrong they can do wrong". In 2006 the Orthodox Union, Temple Grandin and Agriprocessors had reportedly resolved their problems. In 2008, though, Grandin reported that Agriprocessors had again become "sloppy" in their slaughter operation and was "in the bottom 10%" of slaughterhouses.
Agriprocessors faced accusations of mistreatment of cattle, pollution, and a series of alleged violations of labor law. In May 2008, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the Un ...
(ICE) staged a raid
RAID (; redundant array of inexpensive disks or redundant array of independent disks) is a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical Computer data storage, data storage components into one or more logical units for th ...
of the plant, and arrested nearly 400 illegal immigrant workers. Agriprocessors plants stopped operating in October 2008, and the firm filed for bankruptcy on 5 November of the same year. Sholom Rubashkin as the highest ranking day-to-day corporate officer
A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as "born out of st ...
was charged with federal financial fraud and sentenced to 27 years in prison in June 2010.
The Agriprocessors plant was bought at auction in July 2009 by SHF Industries and has resumed production under the new name ''Agri Star''.
See also
* Shechita
In Judaism, ''shechita'' (anglicized: ; ; ; also transliterated ''shehitah, shechitah, shehita'') is ritual slaughtering of certain mammals and birds for food according to ''kashrut''. One who practices this, a kosher butcher is called a ''sho ...
, Jewish method of ritual slaughter
* Dhabihah
In Islamic law, ''dhabihah'' (; ), also spelled ''zabiha'', is the prescribed method of slaughter for halal animals (excluding fish, which are exempt from this requirement). It consists of a swift, deep incision to the throat with a very sharp kn ...
, Islamic method of ritual slaughter
* Jhatka
Jhatka () is a method of slaughtering an animal for meat by a single strike of a sword or axe to sever its head within the Sikh and Hindu religions. This kills the animal almost instantly as opposed to other forms of slaughter. This type of slaug ...
, Hindu and Sikh method of animal slaughter
* Animal sacrifice
Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spread of Chris ...
* Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...
* DIALREL, Dialogue on Religious Slaughter: an EU project
References
Further reading
RESOLUTION: GB1106-5 World Jewish Congress
* Pascal Krauthammer ''Das Schächtverbot in der Schweiz: Die Schächtfrage zwischen Tierschutz, Politik und Fremdenfeindlichkeit von Pascal Krauthammer'' Schulthess, Zürich 2000 ( Zürcher Studien zur Rechtsgeschichte, Band 42) (The Prohibition of Ritual Slaughter in Switzerland. The Ritual Slaughter Issue from the aspects of Animal Protection, Politics and Xenophobia. Zurich Studies in Legal History, Volume 42) (Doctoral dissertation in German with an English summary included)
Per Ole Johansen ''Oss selv nærmest. Norge og jødene 1914–1943''. (''Korstoget mot schæchtningen'' pp. 62–68)
''I'm alright, Jack (Look after Number One) Norway and the Jews 1914–1943'' (''The Crusade against Ritual Slaughter'' pp. 62–68)
* ''Legislation protecting shechita'' : ''text of laws and regulations in various countries'' / compiled by Michael L. Munk; Agudath Israel of America. Legislative Commission of Agudath Israel of America, 1976
*Pablo Lerner and Alfredo Mordechai Rabello, ''The Prohibition of Ritual Slaughtering (Kosher Shechita and Halal) and Freedom of Religion of Minorities, Journal of Law and Religion, vol. 22, no. 1 (2006/2007), pp. 1–62.''
* John M. Efron: ''The Most Cruel Cut of All? The Campaign Against Jewish Ritual Slaughter in Fin-de-Siècle Switzerland and Germany''. Abstracts of 3 touching on Switzerland and anti-shehitah legislation.
* Michael F. Metcalf "Regulating slaughter: animal protection and Antisemitism in Scandinavia, 1880–1941" in ''Patterns of Prejudice''; 23 (1989)
* Robin Judd ''Contested Rituals: Circumcision, Kosher Butchering, and Jewish Political Life in Germany, 1843–1933'' Cornell University Press 2007
* Solomon David Sassoon. ''A Critical Study of Electrical Stunning and the Jewish Method of Slaughter (Shehita)''. Letchworth Herts. 48pp
''Challenges to Shechita and its Protection by Government and Legislation in Late 20th Century Britain'' Neville Kesselman
Kenneth Collins Abstract: ''A Community on Trial: The Aberdeen Shechita Case, 1893''
Anti-Semitism without Hatred? The Animal Protection Movement and the Semantics of Kosher Slaughter in Norway 1895–1913
Science Nordic. ''Butchery law with anti-Semitic roots''
A comparative report of the public debates on religious slaughter in Germany, UK, France & Norway. DIALREL Encouraging Dialoge in Issues of Religious Slaughter. Comparative report: Lill M Vramo & Taina Bucher National Reports (in appendix) Florence Bergeaud-Blecker (French report) Adrian Evans (UK report) Taina Bucher, Lill M. Vramo & Ellen Esser (German report) Taina Bucher, Laura Terragni & Lill M. Vramo (Norwegian report) 01/03/2009
Understanding Freedom of Religion in a Religious Industry :Kosher Slaughter (Shechita) ''Joel Silver''
J. Lavy ''Enchanting a Disenchanted Law: On Jewish Ritual and Secular History in 19th Century Germany''
''Farm Animal Welfare, a Voyage of Discovery'' Huw Davies
(General background on sheep farming)
Account of the US legislation on kosher slaughter in the USA summarized from: Isaac Lewin ''Personalities and Historical Events, Mossad Harav Kook Yerushalayim 1988''
Hearings (House of Representatives) in connection with the US Humane Slaughter Act, including a statement by Rabbi Isaac Lewin, professor at Yeshiva University, New York, 12 April 1957 (p. 35)
''Government Regulations of Shechita (Jewish Religious Slaughter) in the Twenty-First Century: Are they Ethical?'' Ari Z. Zivotofsky
* David Fraser ''Anti-Shechita Prosecutions in the Anglo-American World, 1855-1913: "A major attack on Jewish freedoms"''(North American Jewish Studies)
External links
*
The assault on shechita and the future of Jews in Europe. World Jewish Congress
{{DEFAULTSORT:Legal Aspects Of Ritual Slaughter
Ritual slaughter
European Court of Human Rights cases involving France
Food law
Traditional meat processing
Kosher meat
Halal meat
Judaism-related controversies
Animals in the Bible
Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Cruelty to animals
Animal rights
Animal welfare and rights legislation
Islam-related controversies