Sunday, February 21, 2010

Halal Meat Controversy in France


February 21, 2010 on Al-Jazeera English
Halal meat, or meat slaughtered in line with Muslim tradition, is at the centre of a political controversy.

Quick - a fast-food French restaurant chain - is testing out a new niche market, withdrawing all pork products from the menu and serving only halal meat in some of its branches.

Experts say that with more than 5 million French Muslims who are potential customers, Quick is targeting a booming market: the $7.5bn halal business.

But the mayor of Roubaix, a French town near the northern city of Lille , has launched a law suit against the food chain, arguing that it constituted "discrimination" against non-Muslims.
See also: Are Muslims Eating Halal in Canada?

23 comments:

  1. This isn't discriminatory unless non-Muslims are not allowed to purchase from these restaurants.
    So they don't have pork, lot's of restaurants already don't have pork. If they only took pork off the menu, there would be no controversy.
    The animals have been ritually slaughtered, and if that bothers you (it bothers me), choose to eat somewhere else.
    The kosher food market is huge and if there is money to be made in the halal market, I can't blame business people from taking advantage.

    There is nothing stopping me from opening a restaurant with only food blessed with the name of FSM. It wouldn't be discriminatory, I would gladly serve and customer that walks in the door, but it's likely that those who adhere to a halal, kosher, or other specific diet wouldn't eat there.

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  2. my local cafe went vege' recently and I feel its discrimination against me coz I eat meat. I am also a thick piece of human shit much like the mayor of roubaix. fuck me this french mayor is a fricking mongo. These places also give you the option of NOT buying stuff too. You wont catch me going into mcDonalds complaining that they dont serve 12 inch pizzas- no - I go to a pizza place. You wont catch me complaining that Sports cars are out of my price range either. this video is retarded and so is that french turd. This is not discrimination, its a business move. I dont give a fuck how you kill the cow- drive a bolt through its head, slit its throat, say a prayer, sing it staying alive by the fucking bee gees- its all the same to me. people are stupid.

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  3. Halal is nothing but pointless animal suffering, not to mention highly impractical when used on an industrial scale.

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  4. do you eat meat at all? do you know how the keep animals? its all fucking suffering halal or not.

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  5. Why did they take pork off the menu? Are halal restrictions as insane as Jewish kosher laws?

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  6. Yeah, they are very similar.

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  7. I don't get why the company decided to serve exlusively halal, they could have done both. But regardless that is their decision and there is nothing wrong with it. No one has any right to prevent a company from catering to a specific market.

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  8. The Qu'ran says it's okay for Muslims to eat kosher food, but because halal has more specific religious-political connotations, Quick makes itself more attractive to a large Muslim population. Not that I care... I don't even eat fast food.

    I am in agreement with graham on this one. If Quick started saying, "we cater only to Muslims," that would be discrimination. Which reminds me, France's National Front Party is but a splinter in French politics. It is an extreme right-wing nationalist party that only has 16,000 to 18,000 members. They currently hold no seats in the French National Assembly or Senate, and only 3 out of the 72 seats of the European Parliament. I find it amusing that Al-Jazeera failed to mention this. Instead they're taking the words of the daughter of the founder of the National Front as some kind of be-all end-all opinion of the French on the matter. It's the same thing as saying that Pat Robertson serves as the voice of Christianity in America. The National Front does not represent French mainstream politics, and certainly not in European politics. Nice going Al-Jazeera... you sure know how to promote good journalism.

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  9. let the French vote with their wallets

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  10. are you serious lol what does the government have anything to do with a fast food restaurant! i guess the europeans are not very familiar with the free market..

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  11. I see nothing wrong with what they are doing, as long as they won't stop me from coming to check out their cuisine. I had some African-American-Muslims look at me weird when I was pouring through the Halal section of the grocery store, but I just really wanted some lamb.

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  12. Here is a good video about meat: http://meat.org

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  13. cider: I do know how that system works. I've been to slaughterhouses before. And you, sir, are an idiot.

    Animals are not suffering. They don't have time to suffer. Stop believing everything PETA tells you.

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  14. I want my meat to be killed humanely, or if the animal has to suffer then it has to have a real benefit to for the end product (thinking fois gras).
    Religious torture does not have any real benefits.
    Yes I'm an omnivore, I eat vegetables, fruit and meat, can't fight millions of years of evolution.

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  15. ps, Quick can do what they want, didn't like them before but occasionally went to one, will not enter one anymore.

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  16. you sir are a raving bufoon. not all animals suffer, just the majority. I dont give two flying turd frisbees about peta or you. Just do some research into your pies you cake eater. I jest. chill out and stop getting upset over the internet hahaha

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  17. Yea, not like they invented they stuff... ohwait...

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  18. This lawsuit is absurd and is fueled by an idiot mayor who has prejudice on the mind. Why isn't this wanker instigating lawsuits against kosher restaurants? They don't serve pork either!

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  19. This is definetely NOT about food. This is about France not wanting to be <span>compromised and contaminated by the muslim community anymore. I'm 100% with them. Adapt to OUR customs! Dont try to impose the trash that is its your religion and customs on us civilized people!
    </span>

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  20. Surely there is an even greater issue of halal slaughterhouses discriminating against non-muslims. If employers are expected to provide equally employment opportunities, and halal animals have to be slaughtered by a muslims, then this is clear discrimination. If non-muslims could kill their animals then it would not be halal. Religion promotes discrimination, so stamp it out of our culture.

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  21. Please do not get a wrong impression about halal food without understanding what it is. When you slaughter an animal according to Halal procedures, you take utmost care that the animal does not suffer much in the slaughtering. It is quick, so the animal does not have blood supply, and dies quicker, thus the suffering is minimum. Which is more than what can be said about how fast food chains seem to be treating animals anyways..

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  22. additionally, in Halal slaugtering, the God Almighty's name is announced before the slaughter, as a permission to sacrifice the animal. Traditionally, even Christians used to follow this procedure but do not anymore, which is why there food is not halal. Basically, Halal is not wrong in anyway.. despite what people have been led to think..

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