Brussels Debates Animal Welfare: Ritual Slaughter Ban Controversy Heats Up

Should Brussels impose stunning of animals before slaughter, as in Flanders and Wallonia? For Youssef Handichi, doing so will border on the separation between the state and religion. "This work that we are doing today, of receiving field experts, scientific experts, representatives of faiths, we should have done it well in advance in order to be able to propose a text that could have been adopted," he declares to BX1.

For their part, representatives of the Jewish and Muslim communities have indicated that they have the impression of being in the sights of politicians because of their religious beliefs, insofar as other forms of killing for food purposes are not targeted by the same concerns in Belgium.

"It is not up to politicians to determine what is halal and kosher, but to cultural representatives. A representative of the Jewish community reminded us that the rule is with stunning. Today, this draft ordinance comes to remove this exception, debated and accepted in 1974. Since then, scientifically, there is nothing new with regard to animal welfare," notes the Brussels deputy.

According to religious representatives, the ban on ritual slaughter will lead to a regression in animal welfare, given the longer transport times to slaughterhouses abroad. For the deputy, "this draft ordinance will even worsen the situation of animal welfare because today we have on our Brussels territory a controlled slaughterhouse. There are social inspectors who can go to this slaughterhouse, there are cameras, it is filmed so there is direct control. If this ordinance were to be adopted, we would then export our animals to Poland where we have no control over animal welfare and working conditions".