Religious Slaughter of Animals: International Efforts to Meet This Need Responsibly

Abstract

The Jewish and Muslim communities have a set of dietary laws that control the food they eat. One of the most important components of these laws is how an animal is killed for food. In both communities there has been well-documented interest and concern for animal welfare, long before such concerns were fashionable in the Western world. Both groups traditionally use a cut at the neck to make the animal unconscious. The religious slaughter of animals is sometimes a challenge for the modern meat slaughter industry because the process is slower, requires more skill on the part of slaughterhouse and the slaughterman, requires more attention to the details of animal handling, and needs specialized equipment that is often expensive, especially for higher line speeds. But religious slaughter of animals also has some benefits such as the fact that the animal is killed by someone with religious training who cares about the animal, using a razor sharp knife that is free of nicks. Working with the religious communities, the OIE (World Health Organization for Animals), the American Veterinary Medicine Association and the North American Meat Institute have addressed these issues with the assistance of Dr. Temple Grandin, the preeminent authority in this area. With religious slaughter it is important to distinguish between unconsciousness (loss of the ability to feel pain) and insensibility (loss of all reflexes in the head). And it is also important for both the religious and scientific communities to work harder to be sure that best practices for religious slaughter are developed and then used.

18.2 Appendix: Outline of Issues for a Critical Review of Religious Slaughter for Mammals

This is a suggested list of the issues that need to be addressed both by the scientific/research community, by slaughter plant management, by secular authorities, and/or by the religious communities beyond the slaughter house in trying to improve the religious slaughter of animals.

Some of the issues may not involve scientific issues currently being studied and debated, but even if not a topic of research, they are included so that (1) If the information is wrong or needs updating it can be addressed, and (2) If changes in procedures are needed, it is important to have the bigger picture in mind to hopefully minimize any unintended consequences elsewhere in the system of any proposed changes.

18.1.1 18.2.1 Animal Specific Information

It would be helpful to have a good set of anatomical drawings showing the various blood vessels between the heart and the brain for the key animal species being slaughtered either kosher or halal, so these can be more critically discussed and compared, e.g., cattle, sheep, water buffalo, and camel. Drawings of where on the neck the kosher or halal cut can be made also need to be made available, including the anatomy within the neck in that area.

18.1.2 18.2.2 Long Before Slaughter

How does one minimize stress on the farm, and during transportation and lairage at the slaughterhouse? These are covered by traditional guidelines although in recent years more emphasis is being placed on these issues.

How does one select animals that are appropriate for religious slaughter, e.g., animals that are more used to seeing humans?

How can the rejection of animals for lung adhesions or other religious defects during kosher slaughter be minimized? Can studying this in live animals (e.g., ultrasound, which preliminary results by the author with colleagues suggest is possible) improve animal health generally? Does the presence of lung adhesions actually result in slower growth of animals?

Can pre-slaughter inspections on the farm eliminate problematic animals or herds?

18.1.3 18.2.3 Just Prior to Slaughter

When does one remove feed and water?

How does one physically design an optimal system from lairage to slaughter, e.g., flooring, lighting, noise and glare?

How does one minimize vocalization and electric prod use? Can vibrators replace the electric prod for hard to handle animals?

Should animals be prepared ahead of time for religious slaughter, e.g., washing and shaving of the neck so the kosher slaughter men will rarely need to wait to slaughter the animal in the restraint because the neck does not meet their standard?

18.1.4 18.2.4 At the Time of Slaughter

Can one determine if a little stress just before slaughter is good for loss of consciousness?

Can rapid tests using glucose and lactic acid be used to measure stress during slaughter? How do you do the sampling at that time?

Are there other ways to determine unconsciousness under field conditions, i.e., for every animal in a restraining device, where loss of posture may not be evident? Are there any telemetry or medical devices that can be adapted for this purpose?

18.1.5 18.2.5 Religious Personnel

Exactly where on the neck should the kill be done?

How does one measure the site of cutting afterwards?

Is a more aggressive cut and/or fewer strokes better for animal welfare? How can this be monitored? (Is this possibly a role for video auditing?)

Do these differences in cutting strokes impact on the number of aneurisms?

Does the angle of the knife during the cut make a difference, i.e., cutting straight across, slightly up or slightly down? How can this be monitored and evaluated?

The Muslim community uses a unique chest stab method (Nahr) for camels that could in principle be applied to other animals, especially cattle. Is this method accepted by the Muslim community for other animals? What are the pluses and minuses of this method?

18.1.6 18.2.6 After Slaughter

After slaughter when the Jewish slaughter man checks that the cuts were made properly are there any special instructions needed to minimize contact with the cut skin surfaces? Should Muslim slaughter men be encouraged to do the same? Can this procedure help to decrease aneurisms?

With kosher slaughter of animals there is sometimes a second cut. Exactly how is this cut made? Under what circumstances and by whom and how might a second cut be made after the religious slaughter man if the slaughter man considers the cut insufficient? Are there different rules for kosher and halal?

How does one measure time to unconsciousness? How does one use this timing as a management tool?

How does one evaluate the quality of the transition to unconsciousness rather than just the time to unconsciousness?

At what blood pressure does an animal become “unconscious”? Is this blood pressure different in different parts of the brain? Does it vary between species and from animal to animal? Could this be used as a method to determine unconsciousness?

How in a plant does one pragmatically assure that each animal is unconscious before being hung?

How does one evaluate the many behavioral traits that might determine the “quality” of the kill?

If it becomes necessary to put down an animal that is remaining conscious longer than a specified time, what is the best way to do this from an animal welfare and worker safety point of view?

How does one check for the loss of the corneal reflex (i.e., the blinking reflex) and is this measurement the correct measurement to make for insensibility? Does it correlate with brain death? Can this or another measurement be mechanized and monitored automatically on every animal.

How in a plant does one pragmatically assure that each animal is insensible before any further cutting of the anima is done?

18.1.7 18.2.7 Video Auditing

How does this important technique get instituted as a management tool to assure that animals are slaughtered properly?

Where should cameras be placed in slaughter houses to optimize the ability to manage the slaughter?

Who should have access to the recordings?

18.1.8 18.2.8 Equipment

How should the restrainer be designed? What are the parameters that one needs to consider?

How does one measure neck tension and head movement? How does one measure the proper angle that is needed for both upright and upside down restrainers?

An upside down box needs to turn quickly and properly support the animal once upside down and while turning.

When should the head-holder be released and when should the animal be turned back upright?

How does one determine the time to unconsciousness while the animal is in the box?

With an upright SPCA box can the belly holder be better designed?

Would designing an upright pen with a double rail that actually supports the animal off the ground be beneficial?

How can a low volume upright pen be optimized for animal welfare while retaining the lowest possible price, including restrainers for large steers and bulls?

How can greater use of these pens be encouraged?

Can the ergometric design of the cutting when using a V-restrainer be improved for the slaughter man?

How long should the ideal V-restrainer be?

Is it better to cut the animal while in the middle of the restrainer or do it at the end and allow the animal to then fall onto a table?

Can the high speed moving double rail be built at a lower cost so more plants could afford them?

In general, can equipment be redesigned so that the animal can be moved away from the equipment but be given time to become unconscious and eventually insensitive without violating animal welfare considerations?

How does one deal in a systematic way with any animals that are not unconscious coming out of a restraining device?

How does one establish the ideal length and shape of the knife? Is twice the neck width and perfectly straight blade the correct requirement?

How does one measure the sharpness of the knife blade? If the new Anago knife sharpness testing instrument works, what is the minimum acceptable sharpness?

How does one measure the number and “quality” (to be defined) of this properly of a knife objectively?

Can Muslim slaughter men be trained and monitored to do this regularly?

Are all the Shochtim meeting the minimum requirement?

18.1.9 18.2.9 After Unconsciousness and After the Loss of Reflexes

How might one measure occlusions routinely? Should a “quantitative” measurement be developed? How can it be used as a management tool?

How does one measure where the blood is in the lung? How does one evaluate blood in the trachea versus blood in the brachea?

How does one measure the cut of the different vessels after the fact, i.e., what percent of each vein/artery was cut and where was the cut?

How does one minimize the number of occlusions?

18.1.10 18.2.10 Endorphin Hypothesis

Can one determine whether the endorphin hypothesis as a way for an animal to die on a high has any merit? How does one do the blood draws as the animal is losing both blood and blood pressure?

18.1.11 18.2.11 Beyond the Slaughterhouse

What should be the requirements for the training of slaughter men in terms of animal welfare?

Should some animal welfare licensing scheme be developed?

What type of monitoring of slaughter men is appropriate?

Should slaughterhouses be required to have a written kosher and/or halal protocol that both the secular and religious supervising body can agree on?

18.1.12 18.2.12 Overall Goals

What are the overall standards that one wishes to see achieved in slaughter houses doing the religious slaughter of animals? How does one get all religious slaughterhouses up to a minimal animal welfare standard?

How does one make the good plants even better?

The above outline is based on a number of articles and discussions with a number of colleagues. Khalid (2011) has an extensive literature review that is a good starting point for the comprehensive and balanced literature review that is needed moving forward. The preliminary report prepared for use in Holland (Regenstein 2011) documents in more detail some of the problems with the current literature in great detail. Dr. Grandin’s website (www.grandin.com) contains a great deal of material on religious slaughter including a few papers and the disclaimer for the work in New Zealand. Stuart Rosen’s (2004) critical review that was peer reviewed but was not permitted to be published as such by the Veterinary Record is an important paper. Rabbi/Dr. Levinger (Levinger 1995; Munk et al. 1976) has written two books that provide a comprehensive review of the physiology of religious slaughter, mainly kosher from a Jewish point of view, although it does not general separate the impact of the different forms of religious slaughter.