French Government Debunks Rumors of Halal Poultry Slaughter Ban

The Great Mosques of Paris, Evry and Lyon had expressed their surprise at the dissemination of information according to which the ritual slaughter of poultry was now prohibited. Information that has provoked many reactions, especially within the Muslim community. But in reality, it was fake news. The French Ministry of Agriculture and Food denied the information and stated that the halal slaughter of poultry has never been prohibited in France.

According to the press release, "in order to respect the principle of freedom to manifest one’s religion, in particular the performance of religious rites, as laid down in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the European regulation on the protection of animals at the time of their killing dated September 24, 2009, allows Member States to derogate from the obligation to stun animals prior to ritual slaughter," the ministry said. Thus, "France authorizes this derogation and its position remains unchanged."

"With this regulation and this derogatory system, France therefore guarantees to the certifying bodies the possibility of meeting the religious requirements," the press release specifies before emphasizing that "the technical instruction of the Directorate General for Food of November 2020 has come to specify the control modalities applicable to all types of poultry slaughter (conventional and ritual) and to all stunning methods, without modifying the regulatory principles, which have not changed."

"This technical instruction has therefore in no way called into question the possibility of practicing ritual slaughter for structures that were complying with the existing rules," the ministry said, according to which "operators of slaughter who wish to derogate from the obligations of prior stunning of animals must request authorization from the competent Prefect to implement the derogations, as has been the case for several years."