A county council in England has voted in favour of banning halal meats from being served as part of school meals.
The proposal was brought by Geoff Driver, the Conservative leader of Lancashire county council. He argued that it is 'abhorrent' and 'really, really cruel' to slaughter animals without stunning them first, as is the case with halal meats.
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Mr Driver said: "This is an animal welfare issue and an animal welfare issue alone. It is not anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim. I have brought it forward purely because the supply contract is up for renewal.
"Killing animals without stunning them beforehand causes them unnecessary stress, pain and discomfort."
Lancashire councillors voted 41 to 24 to ban the meat from county-run schools.
Currently, Lancashire supplies 27 schools with halal meat, catering for up to 12,000 children.
Conservative councillor Andrew Snowden said the ban was not a faith issue and rather was about 'the minimum treatment we expect animals to receive'. He added that he would support the ban on the 'inhumane' practice of not stunning animals before slaughter, 'because my moral compass obliges me to'.
However, Labour councillor Lorraine Beavers has accused Mr Driver of using 12,000 children in Lancashire as a 'political football'.
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Another Labour councillor, Mohammed Iqbal, who was 'very unhappy' about the decision. As a Muslim, he also commented that it was an 'offence to him and his faith'. At this point, Mr Driver apologised, explaining that he intended no offence.
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National Secular Society campaigns director Stephen Evans told MailOnline: "The practice of imposing un-stunned meat from religious slaughter methods on pupils, public service users and the general populace is completely unacceptable, and needs to end. We commend Lancashire on its decision.
"As long as religious groups are granted an exemption from legislation aimed at ensuring animals do not suffer avoidable distress or pain, the number of animals killed under the exemption should be kept to an absolute minimum - and consumers must be able to avoid such products.
"A majority of Muslims accept pre-stunning and we would urge all schools and local authorities to resist being bullied into unethical and regressive policy decisions by fundamentalist faith leaders claiming to speak on behalf of all Muslims."
Current laws in the UK require farm animals to be stunned before slaughter, but provides a religious exemption for Jews and Muslims.
Other major meat-producing countries, such as New Zealand and Denmark, legally require animals to be pre-stunned and rendered insensible to paid and address before slaughter. Here in the UK, however, councils do have the power to ban non-stunned halal meat, but these decisions are very likely to be challenged under equality laws.
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Words: Paddy Maddison
Sources: MailOnline, The Guardian
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: UK News