Following the broadcast 'From plump chicken to slaughter: how sacred is the halal label in the supermarket really' by the Keuringsdienst van Waarde, questions were raised in the Lower House by DENK.
The questions include possible deception by supermarkets regarding the 'Covenant on unstunned slaughter according to religious rites' signed by the central government.
To answer the questions, coordination took place with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Change, the Consumer & Market Authority and the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority.
On 22 April, the episode "From plump chicken to slaughter: how sacred is the halal label in the supermarket really?" explored where halal-labelled chicken comes from.
The term halal (literally translated: clean/allowed) is used for food that complies with Islamic laws. There are several private inspection companies in the Netherlands that certify halal meat. Opinions differ on the interpretation of what is 'halal'. The government does not get involved in such discussions.
The reporters stress that halal chicken meat in the supermarket does not meet the opfoke requirements one star of the Animal Protection Society's Better Life label (BLk1*). And that is true if there is no BLk label on it.
The questioners see possible deception by supermarkets because of supermarkets' (above-legal) initiative to switch to chicken meat carrying at least BLk1*.
Stunning (rendering animals unconscious) before slaughter is mandatory by law, but an exception can be made for religious reasons. This leads to social and political debate. In 2008, former Member of Parliament Thieme tabled initiative legislation to ban unstunned religious slaughter. The initiative bill in 2008 ran aground in the Senate, partly because a Covenant was concluded to safeguard animal welfare during unstunned ritual slaughter. The Covenant was drawn up between the State Secretary of Economic Affairs, the Association of Slaughterhouses and Meat Processing Companies, the Contact Body for Muslims and Government and the Permanent Committee to the General Affairs of the Dutch-Israelite denomination.
The starting point of the Covenant is to achieve improvements for animal welfare while respecting the constitutionally and internationally established right to religious freedom. In June 2012, the Covenant on 'unstunned slaughter according to religious rites' was signed and entered into force and supplemented in July 2017 by additional agreements in the Addendum to the Covenant. The standards on ritual unstunned slaughter from the Covenant were anchored in the Animal Keepers Decree on 1 January 2018, so that they are generally applicable and can be enforced.
The NVWA continuously monitors unstunned slaughter and compliance with all legal requirements regarding animal health, animal welfare, hygiene and food safety, in both regular and unstunned religious slaughter.
Halal certification concerns exclusively private (additional) requirements. Monitoring compliance with private requirements is not a government matter. The NVWA therefore does not supervise it.
No further answer is given about possible deception.
Source: file (government.co.uk)
