Halal Certification in Australia and the Western World

HALAL CERTIFICATION IN AUSTRALIA AND THE WESTERN WORLD Whilst it appears that halal certication has been around for a number of years its existance was not known the majority of Australians, and possibly still is not, until towards the end of 2014 when some publicity appeared regarding it. As at the least it can have some financial impact on all Australians and as much misinformation appears on the internet about it this document has been prepared in the hope that it will help clarify the matter as seen from the perspective of one Australian. In this perspective no advantage in having halal certification can be found for the general Australian population but various disadvantages can be found, five of these disadvantages are set out below, these adverse effects are most likely to exist in the western world as well as Australia. 1. The methods used in the halal slaughter of require the cutting of the throats of animals whilst they are still living, this killing to be performed by a member of the Islam religion. In Australia it is a legal requirement that the animals be temporally stunned before their throat is cut, they can however recover from the temporary stunning before dying; such stunning does not take place in many countries. This method is distinct from that previously used in Australia where the animal was killed before being cut, and is now understood to be becoming prevelent. 2. Halal certification is different from the religious requirement which is that animals be killed in a certain fashion and that blood and certain varieties of animals not be eaten. It is a the result of brainstorming by some far sighted muslin clergy that a certificate is sold to food companies, the certificate stating that the food products prepared by the particular company are 'halal' despite the fact that most of the foods that are certified do not require a religious certificate to make them allowable for muslims to eat. It is understood that that this certification is being extended to plastics, equipment, vehicles and possibly personnel. Companies embrace this certification hoping it will increase sales, the costs of the certification will undoubtedly be passed on to all consumers increasing the cost of the products and will not be borne by the companies themselves. The amounts of money received by the certifying bodies, of which there are more than twenty, are said to be large, totalling millions of dollars world wide despite the relatively low application fees listed on certfiers sites. The destinations of these monies is presently under query with possibilities that a reasonable proportion of the cash is paid to militant organisations opposed to western interests. 3. This certification, where required and if required, relates to some 2% to 3% of the Australian population but is being applied to the other 97% to 98% of the population, generally without their knowledge; this should not be so, should a religion based certification be made on foods it should be made known widely so that all persons may be aware of it. At present very few of the foods that are certified carry the appropriate logos making it difficult to ascertain whether the food is certified or not, some companies actually put a logo on the inner packaging so that purchasers are unaware the product is certified until it is opened, however most companies do not use the logos at all. 4. Queries have been raised as to why such halal certification has been introduced. The most benign reason known suggests that it is solely a revenue riser to meet the needs of the religion and to help its charities, this may seem innocent enough but in Australia why should every person contribute to a religion in which they have very little, if any, interest, a proportion of the population may even object to making such contributions. An extension of this reason considers the fact that there is very little transparency in how the large sums of money which become available are spent; and that some of it may be used, with various figures quoting that up to one eighth of it, is very likely to be supporting jihadist type organisations. Other theories suggest that a widely used certification system can be used to infiltrate the religion into the culture of various countries and to give a boost to the perceived prowess of the religion and its followers. The extension of this theory is that the eventual aim of the certification/infiltration is to make it easier to introduce sharia law, either for a section of the populace or all of it. 5. Australia boasts of its multiculturism and how no minority should be adversely affected by other cultures or religions yet the introduction of halal certification generally, which suits the muslim population works against the religious prohibitations of other religions. The following extract has been copied from the Wikipedia entry on Sikh history and culture and shows how halal certification does affect members of that religion: "There are a number of religious prohibitations in Sikhism ...... Prohibited are: ix Eating meat killed in a ritualistic manner [Kutha meat]. Sikhs are strictly prohibited from eating halal meat from animals slaughtered in a religiously prescribed manner [such as dhabihah or shechita, known as Kutha meat] when the animal is killed by exsanguination via throat cutting, ........." .

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