Belgium: Half of lamb meat is halal (UPDATED)

Belgium: Half of lamb meat is halal


About half of lamb and mutton meat in Belgian supermarkets and restaurants is halal slaughtered. That means that it's ritually slaughtered and blessed by Muslim men, reports Het Laatste Nieuws.

The meat comes from New Zealand, where almost all slaughter is halal, since their biggest market is in the Middle East. The other half of lamb and mutton meat in Belgian shops comes from Ireland and the UK. Belgian supermarkets try to disguise the fact that the New Zealand meat is halal.


Source: HLN (Dutch)



More on the topic:

"we don't make it public, because some customers might not appreciate it," says Colruyt.

Every year more than 12,000 tons of lamb and mutton meat are imported to Belgium from New Zealand, which about half the market share. The other half comes mostly from the UK and Ireland. More than 90% of the New Zealand meat is halal slaughtered. "We export a lot to the Middle East and Asia, where there's particular demand for halal meat," Anne Berryman of the 'New Zealand Meat Board', the national umbrella organization for the meat industry. "And also in Europe there are many countries where importers specifically ask for it. Our slaughterhouses therefore chose to slaughter all meat as halal. That is, economically, simply most efficient. Thereby we don't need different production lines with Muslim slaughters and regular slaughterers, which would make everything much more expensive. The quality of the meat stays the same, therefore it's also perfectly appropriate for the European non-halal market."

Yet in Europe, they keep this quiet. "Not all customers ask specifically for halal meat and therefore we also don't promote this. We prefer to emphasize the excellent meat, not the manner of slaughter. Most people don't even want to know how they meat got to their plate," according to Berryman.

Belgian importers of New Zealand meat also noticed that their customers prefer quiet about whether it's halal meat. "Our slaughterhouse, Crusader Meats, sticks clear halal certificates with an Arabic sign and Arabic text on the package. That already produced various complaints from customers who preferred not to have it," says Jan Van Damme of AND-IMEX nv, a wholesalers which delivers about 20 ton halal meat from New Zealand to supermarkets such as Delhaize, Aldi and Makro every week. "But it's not up to us to take off that label. We get the meat in that packaging and couldn't change that for a few customers." Various chains therefore repack the meat themselves. "Delhaize does that, for example," says Van Damme. "That's deliberate, because they're afraid that such an Arabic halal label wouldn't go down well by the customers. Some people could think that the meat is therefore inferior." Delhaize denies this. "It is true that we repack the meat, and don't put back the label, but that is simply because it doesn't seem opportune for us to mention it explicitly," says spokesperson Hans Michiels.

Aldi also admits that they put the meat in different packaging. "In our specifications book we specify this meat as regular lamb meat and not specifically as halal meat, and therefore we don't put it up on the packaging either," is the explanation by Inkoop.

Colruyt's meat department also prefer not to mention that it's halal meat. "The meat is top quality, that is the most important thing," says director André Van den Bossche. "Colruyt also doesn't ask for halal meat. But if we buy meat from New Zealand, we have no choice."

At Makro they keep the certificate. "If it notes that on the original packaging, we keep it. But we don't draw extra attention and dont' ask for any specific certificates," says director Vincent Nolf.

In New Zealand slaughterhouses, the lambs are first stunned with an electric shock, before their throat is sliced. "That is a compromise with the Muslim world, because otherwise it would contradict New Zealand laws regarding animal welfare," says Anne Berryman of the 'New Zealand Meat Board'. Most other halal regulations are followed in the slaughterhouses. "There's an arrow on the ground pointing to Mecca and there are a few Muslim men working too. Sometimes the slicing of the throat is done mechanically, but it's mostly still manual. The ritual is very quick. Every minute, about nine lambs are slaughtered."

Animal welfare organization Gaia has often protested against halal slaughter, but doesn't see a problem with the New Zealand meat. "If the animals must be slaughtered, it's meanwhile good that they be stunned," responds director Ann De Greef.