Tuesday, 5th July 2011
Debate on Food Information to Consumers
I am glad we reached agreement with the Council and Commission on this Regulation. It has been the product of more than three years of hard work for which Mrs. Sommer must be congratulated. It would have been a disaster if we had allowed it to collapse like the Novel Foods Bill.
But let me mention one aspect on which we felt very strongly, but agreed to drop in the interests of seeing a consensus. I refer to the controversy over Halal and Schechita slaughter and the vast amount of meat which finds its way into the general food chain from animals slaughtered in this cruel and inhumane way. It was our belief in this Parliament that the public have a right to know when they purchase meat from animals that were not pre-stunned before slaughter.
We dropped this demand on the clear understanding that Commissioner Dalli will quickly bring forward new animal welfare proposals that deal with this issue. This house expects robust legislative proposals from the Commission that ensures the highest level of welfare for our livestock and ends the blatant abuse of the derogation on religious grounds for slaughter without pre-stunning.
Struan Stevenson MEP
The above speech was delivered at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 5 July 2011
