Australia: Butchers treat halal beef ‘with respect’

Local beef processers and halal butchers have hit out at the brutal treatment of cattle in Indonesian abattoirs as horrific, saying it went against Muslim beliefs.

Greg Cross, the general manager of WA’s biggest meat processer Fletcher International Exports, said talk that savage beatings and mistreatment of cattle before they were slaughtered was part of the Muslim faith was false.

He said abattoir workers in Indonesia needed to be educated so they understood mistreating the animals before they were killed caused stress and destroyed the flavour and texture of the meat.

“The way the cattle were being mistreated had nothing to do with religious beliefs,” Mr Cross said.

“The halal requirement is for the animal to be conscious when being slaughtered, not bashed around like a piece of metal.”

Halal meat accounts for more than half the business of Adam Winter at his Marangaroo butchery Mas Meats.

He said slaughter practices that involved beating the animals or inhumane killings that prolonged suffering before the animal died went against the Muslim faith.

“In Australia you get trained properly in these areas and in a lot of these countries they don’t really give them the proper training, they just go and show them what to do and that’s it,” Mr Winter said.

“With halal slaughtering, the animals are supposed to not suffer but die straight away. They’re not supposed to be tortured.”