Tory MP demands compulsory halal meat labels as she warns millions of Brits are 'eating it without knowing'

Millions of Brits are entirely unaware they are eating halal meat every day, a Tory MP has warned.

Esther McVey has told GB News why she is determined to lift the lid on secrecy in the food industry.

She is leading calls for compulsory labelling of all halal and kosher meat after her 10 Minute Rule Bill to make that law passed to the next stage in the House of Commons.

Ms McVey warned that many consumers are being kept in the dark.

"People don’t know they are eating it!", she said.

The outspoken MP gives three reasons for her call for labelling: consumer choice, animal welfare and transparency.

Both halal meat, for the Muslim community, and kosher meat, for the Jewish community, have a prayer or blessing said at the time of slaughter and the animal must have its throat cut and then bleed to death.

Kosher meat must not be stunned.

Currently, 88 per cent of halal meat is pre-stunned before slaughter, but there is no way of knowing whether the animal has been stunned or not.

The UK is said to be "a nation of animal lovers", yet the RSPCA says that in 2024 some 30 million animals in the UK were killed without stunning.

"It’s horrific", said McVey of non-stun slaughter.

Cows take 20 seconds to two minutes to lose consciousness after their throats are cut, while chickens take seven to 18 seconds.

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To cause an animal such suffering is illegal in the United Kingdom, but an exemption is granted for religious reasons.

But the reality is that halal meat is big business in Britain.

Ms McVey warned: "One billion animals were processed in 2020; 215 million of them went for this halal and kosher meat. Now, that can't be just for (as it's meant to be in statute) for Muslims and Jewish people. In fact, the UK now has become an exporter of halal meat to countries like the United Arab Emirates.

"With a section of the processing chain taken out, it is also a cheaper meat, so people are buying it as a cheaper meat to sell on to other people."

And, though some halal meat is labelled as such, it doesn’t have to be.

Ms McVey said: "If you go to a takeaway, you're getting it without knowing. If you're in hospital. If you're in primary school, you are getting this halal and kosher meat without knowing it."

The Tatton MP said she is receiving huge support from the public: "lots of people say we don't want to eat food that's being produced that way. We're interested in consumer choice. We want to know about the welfare of the animal, and we want transparency in the processing system.

"Fundamentally it is about animal welfare", Ms McVey said.

She also points out the difficulties posed by other people with other religious beliefs: "The meat gets a religious right, maybe a prayer said over it. And other faiths don't want that either."

And she accuses Labour of "tiptoeing around the issue".

She said: "The Labour Party have got an animal welfare strategy, 12,500 words, and at no time within that did they mention this. They talked about lobsters being boiled. They talked about farmed fish, but they never talked about this.

"The Labour Party have shied away from dealing with this because they wanted to tiptoe around the issue for some reason or other, kowtowing maybe to a population."