Does Kosher and Halal Meat Have a Future in Europe?

OLIVIA ROSENZWEIG ∙ October 12, 2022 ∙ ARTICLE

October 12, 2022 ∙ ARTICLE

A court in the European Union (EU) has effectively decided that certain religious animal slaughter practices are larger threats to animal welfare than bullfighting.[1]

That is the conclusion that follows from a legal analysis by Guy Harpaz and Arie Reich, two law professors who recently published an article on the EU decision.[2]

The decision last year by the Court of Justice of the European Union[3] cited animal rights in upholding a Flemish ban on Kosher[4] and Halal[5] animal slaughter, which is done according to Jewish and Muslim religious rites, respectively.

Although some activists may see this as a win for animal rights protections, Harpaz and Reich argue that this ruling is an explicit case of religious intolerance and an ominous indicator of additional discriminatory laws to be adopted throughout the EU.

Most notably, Harpaz and Reich point to what they see as the hypocrisy of the Belgium authorities upholding untenable restrictions on Kosher and Halal slaughter, while not similarly accepting similar restrictions on hunting, fishing, or the killing of animals during sporting or cultural events.

This recent decision on Kosher and Halal slaughter arose from a lawsuit initially brought before the Belgian Constitutional Court by Jewish and Muslim NGOs seeking the total or partial annulment of a 2017 amended decree adopted by authorities in the Flemish Region in Belgium.[6] The decree was initially proposed by a right-wing Flemish nationalist and has been supported by animal rights advocacy groups.[7] Many Jewish and Muslim leaders, however, consider the ruling to be bigotry hidden under the guise of animal welfare concerns.

The decree introduced a requirement that animals be stunned prior to slaughter, which goes directly against Jewish slaughter practices and is incompatible with the slaughter rites of some Muslim authorities. Both Jewish and Muslim traditions consider their slaughtering practices to be more humane forms of killing animals than other methods.

Both practices require some form of killing the animal by severing the principal blood vessels of its neck quickly with a sharp knife before draining its blood. Although the animal has to be conscious during slaughter according to Jewish law, some Muslim authorities do allow a form of pre-slaughter stunning.[8]

The applicants in the case before the EU court argued that the decree infringed upon their freedom of religion, as guaranteed by Article 10(1) of the EU Charter.[9] They claimed that the Belgium decree made it impossible for observant Jews and Muslims to slaughter animals according to their religious obligations and to even obtain Kosher or Halal meat from other sources outside the region.

Although an EU regulation requires that animals can only be killed after stunning, Article 4(4) of the regulation allows for exceptions to this rule for particular methods of slaughter prescribed by religious rites that take place within slaughterhouses.[10] In crafting the ban at issue in the recent EU litigation, Belgium legislators relied on Article 26 of the EU regulation, which allows EU member states to adopt more restrictive rules concerning animal welfare at the time of killing. Other EU member countries with similar decrees include Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Slovenia.[11]

Although the Advocate General of the European Court argued that the Flemish rule was incompatible with EU law, the court nevertheless upheld the decree’s legality. The court found that the principle that the animal should be stunned prior to being killed meets the EU’s main goal of protecting animal welfare. The court also reasoned that, although the EU regulation provides a religious exemption, this does not prevent member states from implementing more extensive protections for animals being slaughtered.[12] In addition, the court interpreted Article 26 of the EU regulation as overriding the exceptions for ritual slaughter found in Article 4(4).

Harpaz and Reich, however, argue that the wording of these and other articles in the EU regulation do not allow for a reading that completely overturns longstanding religious objections to stunning requirements.

The court did acknowledge in its ruling that the Belgium decree was incompatible with certain Jewish and Islamic religious principles and thus did limit the right of observant Jews and Muslims to practice an important part of their religion. In justifying its decision, however, the court emphasized that the Belgium decree only limited one aspect of Jewish and Muslim religious tradition rather than prohibiting slaughtering practices entirely.[13]

The court also addressed the applicants’ claims of unfair discrimination in light of the fact that the ban on killing animals without stunning had not been imposed on the killing of animals during sporting and cultural events, such as fishing or bullfighting. The court dismissed these arguments, reasoning that killing animals for slaughter is not comparable to killing them for recreation because, unlike slaughter, a sporting or cultural event is not done for the purposes of food production. The court also pointed to the fact that the purpose of recreational hunting would become pointless if the animals being hunted were stunned beforehand.

In making this decision, the court claimed to be striking a balance between the EU’s values of freedom of religion and animal welfare concerns. Harpaz and Reich argue, though, that the court decision really amounted to giving a priority to animal welfare rights over those of people’s rights to religious freedom.

[1] Preliminary Ruling: Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België et. al. v. Vlaamse Regering et. al., (2020), https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62019CJ0336 (last visited Oct. 6, 2022).

[2] Arie Reich & Guy Harpaz, Kosher and Halal Slaughtering Before the Court of Justice: A Case of Religious Intolerance?, 28 European Public Law (2022), https://kluwerlawonline.com/journalarticle/European+Public+Law/28.1/EURO2022003 (last visited Oct. 6, 2022).

[3] Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), European Union, https://european-union.europa.eu/institutions-law-budget/institutions-and-bodies/institutions-and-bodies-profiles/court-justice-european-union-cjeu_en (last visited Oct 6., 2022).

[4] Rabbi Gersion Appel, Kosher Slaughter: An Introduction, My Jewish Learning, https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/kosher-slaughtering-an-introduction/ (last visited Oct 6., 2022).

[5] Adam Withnall, Halal meat: What is it and why is it so controversial, The Independent, May 9, 2014, https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/what-is-halal-meat-the-big-questions-about-religious-slaughter-answered-9331519.html (last visited Oct. 6, 2022).

[6] Preliminary Ruling: Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België et. al. v. Vlaamse Regering et. al., supra note 1.

[7] Milan Schreuer, Belgium Bans Religious Slaughtering Practices, Drawing Praise and Protest, The New York Times, January 5, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/05/world/europe/belgium-ban-jewish-muslim-animal-slaughter.html (last visited Oct. 6, 2022).

[8] Withnall, supra note 5.

[9] Article 10 - Freedom of thought, conscience and religion, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights 10 (2015), https://fra.europa.eu/en/eu-charter/article/10-freedom-thought-conscience-and-religion (last visited Oct 6., 2022).

[10] Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 of 24 September 2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing (Text with EEA relevance), 303 OJ L (2009), http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2009/1099/oj/eng (last visited Oct 6., 2022).

[11] Schreuer, supra note 7.

[12] European Union: European Court of Justice Upholds Flemish Requirement to Stun Animals Before Slaughter, Library of Congress (2020), https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2020-12-31/european-union-european-court-of-justice-upholds-flemish-requirement-to-stun-animals-before-slaughter/ (last visited Oct 6., 2022).

[13] EU top court upholds curb on animal slaughter, angering Jewish groups, Reuters, December 17, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/eu-court-religion-slaughter/eu-top-court-upholds-curb-on-animal-slaughter-angering-jewish-groups-idUSKBN28R20Z (last visited Oct 6., 2022).