We want the Government to create a law requiring all meat to have a label, such as a simple RS (Religiously Slaughtered) or NRS (Not religiously slaughtered), that states whether it has been religiously slaughtered or not.
We think that labelling meat as ‘stunned’ or ‘not stunned’ is not adequate because when meat has been subject to a ‘recoverable stun’, the throat is slit and the animal may wake up in excruciating pain to hear the religious blessing, unable to vocalise its distress. I am concerned that religiously slaughtered meat, using inhumane methods, is entering the food chain and is being sold to people who may object to the method of slaughter, without it being labelled.
Government response
There are no requirements to label meat from animals slaughtered in accordance with religious rites. Where information of this nature is provided it must be accurate and must not be misleading.