Agenda item

Councillor Taylor presented his motion regarding meat labelling, which was seconded by Councillor Foice-Beard.

The item was opened for discussion and Members commented as follows:

·         Councillor Carney said he would support this motion wholeheartedly, particularly due to dietary requirements and people becoming more aware of problems with food. However, he would ask for a recognised logo of halal friendly products as there are with other types of food.

·         Councill Tierney gave his support for the motion saying more information is needed regardless, but he gets frustrated when all Council can do is write to the Government, which he sees as virtue signalling. He would encourage members to think about what can be done within this Council’s powers rather than just write to the Government as he believes they do not listen.

·         Councillor Hay gave her support to what she said was a well written motion as she is against any unnecessary suffering to animals.

·         Councillor Sennitt Clough agreed with Councillor Hay; however, she wonders if FDC has the leverage to lobby DEFRA. She is also concerned that halal practices are being singled out; it may be seen as targeting one religious group and where does this stop? It is a complex path that needs to be addressed with wider public engagement. She is not against supporting the motion but as stated, wonders if FDC has the lever to enact this through.

·         Councillor Nawaz endorsed the points made by Councillor Sennitt Clough and Councillor Tierney. All members would be against suffering inflicted on animals. Halal has strict conditions but how many of us are aware of those? He echoes the points about the way this motion has been presented; it would appear that FDC is singling out one group in particular which may affect the credibility of the good cause being pursued. Would it apply to kosher meat, which also has a ritual attached to it? How effective is FDC going to be? He suggested consulting experts on both halal and kosher meats to find out exactly how they do things and then come back to Council with the motion. He asked if Councillor Taylor is seeking a simple labelling process. Councillor Nawaz added that the information he has is yes, it would benefit both but as far as he is aware halal is always marked otherwise Muslims would not buy it. He would agree that non-halal meat eaters have valid points. Halal is already labelled; non-halal is not and there may be some merit in ensuring non-halal is labelled as such.

·         Councillor Boden said the situation is more complicated. As far as kosher is concerned the meat is slaughtered in ordinary slaughterhouses, but halal meat is only able to be slaughtered in houses that follow halal practices. That is why it is easy to indicate which are the halal slaughterhouses with an ‘H’. In terms of consumer choice, the public should be able to see which ones are halal. He does not understand why this is being denied or restricted. People have ethical or religious reasons for doing so and those choices should be respected.

·         Councillor Miscandlon said he does not believe the motion goes far enough and would like to see the labelling of kosher meat added to the motion.

Councillor Taylor summed up saying that the reason kosher is not being included in today’s motion is because there is a large investigation ongoing regarding kosher meat. It has been found that traditional abattoirs kill kosher-style once or twice a week and knowing that the Jewish community only eat the front end of the cow down to the tenth rib, the back end of the cow ends up in the supermarket and in the human food chain. Because they are slaughtered in a traditional abattoir, they have that one traditional abattoir code. Both he and Rupert Lowe MP are trying hard to find out which abattoirs are killing kosher; it is a very long-drawn-out process, but the information will be released once all those abattoirs are known. This is a worldwide issue that people have got behind and is something that needs highlighting for all communities to get food labelled correctly to give all consumers a choice. 

The Motion was approved.

(Cllr K French left the meeting at the end of this item).