How big brand shops and restaurants sell ritually slaughtered meat - but don't label it

Supermarkets and restaurant chains are selling halal meat to millions of customers without telling them.
The switch to slaughtering animals in line with Islamic ritual saves money because the end product can be eaten by Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
More than 70 per cent of all New Zealand lamb in supermarkets is from halal abattoirs – a fact not stated on labelling. Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer all confirmed yesterday they sell the imported meat.

It also emerged that all chicken served by Pizza Express is halal – something made clear only on the company's website.
Chains including Domino's, GBK, Nando's, KFC, Ask and Slug & Lettuce use halal meat in some dishes, mainly chicken, and locations.
When contacted by the Mail yesterday, many of the restaurants were reluctant to discuss the issue. Only Subway and KFC overtly label halal meat products on their menus.
Other chains directed us towards their websites where information was included but hard to find. Subway has removed ham and bacon from almost 200 fast food outlets and switched to halal alternatives in an attempt to woo Muslim customers.
In conventional slaughterhouses, cows, sheep and chicken are stunned, usually with an electric shock, to ensure they are unconscious before their throats are cut.
This minimises suffering but in most Muslim countries halal animals are not stunned.

This technique has been condemned as cruel by experts on the Farm Animal Welfare Council, the Humane Slaughter Association and the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe. Muslim religious leaders have responded to these concerns by allowing halal animals to be stunned before they are killed.

Sheep carcases hang on hooks awaiting distribution at a halal slaughterhouse in Birmingham (file picture)

However 19 per cent of halal sheep are not pre-stunned along with 16 per cent of cattle and 12 per cent of poultry. Jewish religious authorities deny cruelty and refuse to allow pre-stunning for kosher food.
The British Retail Consortium, which represents supermarkets, claims there is no need to label meat such as New Zealand lamb as halal if it comes from animals that are pre-stunned.

Andrew Opie, its director of food, said: 'As the overwhelming majority of meat sold in UK supermarkets is own brand and from animals that have been stunned prior to slaughter we do not see the requirement to separately label meat based on the method of slaughter.
'However, if the Government believes there is a need for more information on meat for those animals that have not been pre-stunned we would be happy to have further discussion in the context of animal welfare.'
But Peter Stevenson, of Compassion in World Farming, said: 'We don't believe that religious freedom should extend to the point of causing unnecessary suffering.
'If you are going to have an exemption to normal rules for religious slaughter, then we believe that meat should be labelled when it gets into the wider food chain.'
The British Veterinary Association and the RSPCA want a new labelling system to spell out whether an animal has been stunned or not.
They have set up an ePetition on the Government's website in the hope of getting 100,000 signatures to ensure a debate in Parliament.

Graphic: Last month, undercover investigators secretly filmed inside a halal abattoir near Banham, Norfolk, as more than 100 sheep appeared to writhe in agony after being ritually killed