An amendment which could have led to special labels attached to kosher meat has been removed from proposed new EU legislation on food labeling. The European Council and the European Parliament agreed this week that the new food information regulation will not include a requirement that all kosher and halal meat would be labeled “meat from slaughter without stunning”. However, the two EU institutions also agreed to include an accompanying statement to the bill which states that the proposal to label kosher meat should be looked at as part of the upcoming review of animal welfare legislation planned for later this year.
The final plans will be approved by the Council, on which the governments of the 27 EU member states are represented, later this month. The amendment was rejected last year but then reintroduced. Campaigners say the labels are discriminatory because they only focus on kosher and halal meat and could cause kosher prices to rocket. They fear that consumers from the non-kosher market, which buys 70 per cent of kosher-slaughtered meat, may be put off by the labeling.
