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After reading about the recent 'shocking' Cadbury cream egg advert I stumbled across this Metro article from a years back and upon reading the headlines my first reaction was one of shock. Personally I go out of my way to avoid Halal foods and it's made more difficult because much of the time it isn't obvious up front whether or not the food you are eating is Halal or not.
Once the shock wore off and of course it became obvious all was not what it seemed. Sure enough, another shock tactic article to lure readers in. Well it worked and of course water and bread can be consumed by those on a Halal diet and chocolate that uses gelatine not sourced from an animal would of course be fine too.
All very well, but things aren't what they seem.
After some more investigation I discovered that some Cadbury products include rennet, which comes from the stomach of a calf and it is used in a small number of Cadbury products. I also discovered a Halal Database which indicates that these products are Halal and presumably OK because they are sourced from animals slaughtered in a compliant way. There's also a Cadbury UK Tweet indicating they use animal Rennet.
@LouLou699 Hi there, calf rennet is used in the making of the caramel in the Daim pieces. Hope that helps!
— Cadbury UK (@CadburyUK) October 25, 2013
So what's the fuss and why am I bothered? Well first of all I don't agree with Halal slaughter, it's not part of the culture of the majority of people in this country and secondly I feel strongly that wherever these products are used in food products or in supermarkets etc. it isn't immediately obvious.
Typically in this country though, most people don't care. As long as they're getting a good deal, getting something cheap they don't need to know about where it comes from or who or what suffers.
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Fremont Concrete Pros
You seem to misunderstand what "halal" means, aside from the meat and differentiating that method of slaughter from any other rather arbitrary, I would suggest that the result for the animal is much the same?
Declaring something "halal" just means that the product does not contain anything that is not permitted for muslims, nothing is added to the product to make it "halal".
Food manufacturers put "Halal Certified" on their products to increase sales, in most cases nothing is changed in the recipe or how the product is made. All the phrase means is that the appropriate authorities have confirmed that the product is okay for followers of the Prophet to consume.
When I visit my Muslim friends, I assume anything I am offered to eat is 'halal', likewise my Jewish friends will offer me 'kosher' food.
Your bigotry and intolerance of others is the problem.
Steve
It's almost definitely as humane as western methods of slaughter, and it's quite possible that it's actually more humane.
On top of that, there is a high welfare requirement for animals to be used for halal meat that is well above industry standards.
The only people against halal meat (and byproducts) are frankly those who don't understand the process of either halal slaughter, or our western methods which only LOOK less violent, and racists.