Humane and slaughter in the same sentence...unbelievable!

[Guest guest]

I found this oblivious discussion of killing animals on the fsis.usda.gov website:

 

 

Script: Humane Handling Series – Ritual Slaughter Part 4

 

 

 

 

Intro:Welcome to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service podcast. Each episode will bring you cutting edge news and information about how FSIS is working to ensure public health protection through food safety. While we’re on the job, you can rest assured that your meat, poultry, and processed egg products are safe, wholesome, properly labeled, and packaged correctly.

Host: Hello and welcome to our fourth podcast in our seven-part series on the humane handling and slaughter of livestock animals. I’m Paul Koscak from FSIS and with me again today is Joan Collins, a program manager in the Office of Field Operations. Joan has been with FSIS for more than 20 years and has a great deal of experience training front line supervisors on the statutes, Rules of Practice and administrative enforcement. In our last episode, we had a very in-depth tutorial on the methods of stunning animals allowed under the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. Today, we’re going to focus on ritual slaughter of livestock for human food.Joan, what does ritual slaughter mean?Guest:Ritual slaughter is basically the killing of an animal for food in accordance with strict religious rules. It’s also sometimes referred to as religious slaughter. The most commonly seen

ritual slaughter is in accordance with the religious requirements of the Jewish and Islamic faiths.Ritual slaughter is covered in Section 1906 of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and the ritual methods are constitutionally protected under the legal framework of religious freedom. Host:Are there any special requirements under religious slaughter?Guest:Well, under religious slaughter, plants aren’t required to stun livestock prior to the ritual cut. However, you may see animals knocked or stunned before or after the ritual portion of the slaughter is complete. Host:You just mentioned ritual cut. Please describe this in more detail.Guest:Sure. In Kosher slaughter, the ritual cut is done by a Shochet, or slaughterer. This person is chosen from the community, trained in the laws of the orthodox religion, and supervised by a rabbi.

The cut is made with a razor sharp knife called a Chalef that is honed after each cut.Then in Halal slaughter, the ritual cut is done by a person of the Islamic faith. Although there is a lot of variation in this type of slaughter, a prayer to Allah is typically recited during the procedure. In addition, most religious authorities permit stunning either before or after the religious slaughter cut.Host:What should FSIS inspection personnel do if something occurs that concerns them during a ritual slaughter?Guest:If they notice something that concerns them, they are to immediately contact their supervisor and the FSIS District Veterinary Medical Specialist for guidance on what actions need to be taken.Host:So, what else do we need to know about ritual slaughter?Guest:Paul, I’d like to stress that it’s important for owners

and operators of ritual slaughter establishments to understand that they’re required to meet all the humane handling regulatory requirements except stunning prior to shackling, hoisting, throwing, cutting or casting animals. For example, FSIS inspectors may verify the availability of water, check the condition of pens and ramps and ensure that there is no excessive prodding in any part of the establishment when animals are moved. They might also verify that after the ritual cut and any additional cuts to facilitate bleeding, no dressing procedure – for example head skinning, leg removal, ear removal, horn removal or opening the hide – is performed until the animal is insensible to pain.Host:Joan, our listeners may be wondering, how do you determine if an animal is unconscious?Guest:That’s a great question. Essentially, all livestock must remain insensible to pain from the

time they are stunned until they are dead. When trying to assess unconsciousness, plant officials can use the following four signs:

 

The head dangles from a flaccid neck. For example, if the animals are suspended down from an overhead rail, the head should hang straight down. The tongue may hang straight down and out of the mouth. Eyelids should be wide open and the pupils fully dilated, so at a distance, the eyes appear black. There is no vocalization from the animal. For example, no mooing, bellowing, baaing, or squealing.However, you may observe movement of the head and neck. This movement can occur due to involuntary reflexes caused by random firing of damaged muscle neurons. Or, it may be associated with the movement of equipment. Host:Is there a chance the animal could be regaining consciousness?Guest:Yes, the movement in the head and neck could be voluntary as the animal is regaining consciousness.A previously stunned animal that regains consciousness may vocalize or show a “righting reflex.†The term “righting reflex†is used to describe the physical actions taken by an animal to move itself into a normal lying, sitting or standing posture. For example, a conscious cow hanging from a bleed rail will show a contracted back, stiff extended neck and rigid extended

forelegs as it tries to pull itself into a normal upright position. An animal lying flat on its side may try to lift its head, and may try to roll up onto its chest or stand. On occasion, an animal’s neck may flex laterally – that is, to one side – after it’s been stunned and hoisted. Don’t mistake this sideways spasm for a righting reflex. Plant officials need to be sure to look at the head to determine if the animal is unconscious.Host:And where are FSIS inspection personnel during all this?Guest:When assessing unconsciousness, FSIS personnel will observe the animals at different places along the bleed rail. They might perform verification just after stunning when the animal is in the shackle pit and after they have been hanging on the bleed rail for several minutes. If they observe an animal regain consciousness after stunning, they will immediately contact

their supervisor and take enforcement actions.Host:Joan, thank you for providing our listeners with this information. More information on religious slaughter and the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act is available at www.fsis.usda.gov. Join us next time when we’ll discuss humane handling of exotic species. Outro:Well, that’s all for this episode. We’d like your feedback on our podcast. Or if you have ideas for future podcasts, send us an e-mail at podcast. To learn more about food safety, try our web site at www.fsis.usda.gov. Thanks for tuning in.

[Guest guest]

Sick!

 

Jo

 

, EC <emgarri wrote:

>

I found this oblivious discussion of killing animals on the fsis.usda.gov

website:

>  

>  

> Script: Humane Handling Series †" Ritual Slaughter Part 4

>

>

>

>

> Intro:

> Welcome to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service podcast. Each episode

will bring you cutting edge news and information about how FSIS is working to

ensure public health protection through food safety. While we’re on the job,

you can rest assured that your meat, poultry, and processed egg products are

safe, wholesome, properly labeled, and packaged correctly.

>

> Host:

> Hello and welcome to our fourth podcast in our seven-part series on the humane

handling and slaughter of livestock animals.

>

> I’m Paul Koscak from FSIS and with me again today is Joan Collins, a program

manager in the Office of Field Operations.

>

> Joan has been with FSIS for more than 20 years and has a great deal of

experience training front line supervisors on the statutes, Rules of Practice

and administrative enforcement.

>

> In our last episode, we had a very in-depth tutorial on the methods of

stunning animals allowed under the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. Today,

we’re going to focus on ritual slaughter of livestock for human food.

>

> Joan, what does ritual slaughter mean?

>

> Guest:

> Ritual slaughter is basically the killing of an animal for food in accordance

with strict religious rules. It’s also sometimes referred to as religious

slaughter. The most commonly seen ritual slaughter is in accordance with the

religious requirements of the Jewish and Islamic faiths.

>

> Ritual slaughter is covered in Section 1906 of the Humane Methods of Slaughter

Act and the ritual methods are constitutionally protected under the legal

framework of religious freedom.

>

> Host:

> Are there any special requirements under religious slaughter?

>

> Guest:

> Well, under religious slaughter, plants aren’t required to stun livestock

prior to the ritual cut. However, you may see animals knocked or stunned before

or after the ritual portion of the slaughter is complete.

>

> Host:

> You just mentioned ritual cut. Please describe this in more detail.

>

> Guest:

> Sure. In Kosher slaughter, the ritual cut is done by a Shochet, or

slaughterer. This person is chosen from the community, trained in the laws of

the orthodox religion, and supervised by a rabbi. The cut is made with a razor

sharp knife called a Chalef that is honed after each cut.

>

> Then in Halal slaughter, the ritual cut is done by a person of the Islamic

faith. Although there is a lot of variation in this type of slaughter, a prayer

to Allah is typically recited during the procedure.

>

> In addition, most religious authorities permit stunning either before or after

the religious slaughter cut.

>

> Host:

> What should FSIS inspection personnel do if something occurs that concerns

them during a ritual slaughter?

>

> Guest:

> If they notice something that concerns them, they are to immediately contact

their supervisor and the FSIS District Veterinary Medical Specialist for

guidance on what actions need to be taken.

>

> Host:

> So, what else do we need to know about ritual slaughter?

>

> Guest:

> Paul, I’d like to stress that it’s important for owners and operators of

ritual slaughter establishments to understand that they’re required to meet

all the humane handling regulatory requirements except stunning prior to

shackling, hoisting, throwing, cutting or casting animals.

>

> For example, FSIS inspectors may verify the availability of water, check the

condition of pens and ramps and ensure that there is no excessive prodding in

any part of the establishment when animals are moved.

>

> They might also verify that after the ritual cut and any additional cuts to

facilitate bleeding, no dressing procedure †" for example head skinning, leg

removal, ear removal, horn removal or opening the hide †" is performed until

the animal is insensible to pain.

>

> Host:

> Joan, our listeners may be wondering, how do you determine if an animal is

unconscious?

>

> Guest:

> That’s a great question. Essentially, all livestock must remain insensible

to pain from the time they are stunned until they are dead.

>

> When trying to assess unconsciousness, plant officials can use the following

four signs:

>

> The head dangles from a flaccid neck. For example, if the animals are

suspended down from an overhead rail, the head should hang straight down.

> The tongue may hang straight down and out of the mouth.

> Eyelids should be wide open and the pupils fully dilated, so at a distance,

the eyes appear black.

> There is no vocalization from the animal. For example, no mooing, bellowing,

baaing, or squealing.

>

> However, you may observe movement of the head and neck. This movement can

occur due to involuntary reflexes caused by random firing of damaged muscle

neurons. Or, it may be associated with the movement of equipment.

>

> Host:

> Is there a chance the animal could be regaining consciousness?

>

> Guest:

> Yes, the movement in the head and neck could be voluntary as the animal is

regaining consciousness.

>

> A previously stunned animal that regains consciousness may vocalize or show a

“righting reflex.†The term “righting reflex†is used to describe the

physical actions taken by an animal to move itself into a normal lying, sitting

or standing posture.

>

> For example, a conscious cow hanging from a bleed rail will show a contracted

back, stiff extended neck and rigid extended forelegs as it tries to pull itself

into a normal upright position. An animal lying flat on its side may try to lift

its head, and may try to roll up onto its chest or stand.

>

> On occasion, an animal’s neck may flex laterally †" that is, to one side

†" after it’s been stunned and hoisted. Don’t mistake this sideways spasm

for a righting reflex.

>

> Plant officials need to be sure to look at the head to determine if the animal

is unconscious.

>

> Host:

> And where are FSIS inspection personnel during all this?

>

> Guest:

> When assessing unconsciousness, FSIS personnel will observe the animals at

different places along the bleed rail.

>

> They might perform verification just after stunning when the animal is in the

shackle pit and after they have been hanging on the bleed rail for several

minutes. If they observe an animal regain consciousness after stunning, they

will immediately contact their supervisor and take enforcement actions.

>

> Host:

> Joan, thank you for providing our listeners with this information. More

information on religious slaughter and the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act is

available at www.fsis.usda.gov.

>

> Join us next time when we’ll discuss humane handling of exotic species.

>

> Outro:

> Well, that’s all for this episode. We’d like your feedback on our podcast.

Or if you have ideas for future podcasts, send us an e-mail at podcast To

learn more about food safety, try our web site at www.fsis.usda.gov. Thanks for

tuning in.

>

[Guest guest]

I totally agree. I have never been able to understand how human beings can on

the one hand, be so detached when inflicting obvious suffering and death to

another sensient creature (or at least condoning it by continuing to consume

meat and animal products), whilst at the same time regarding other animals,eg, a

pet cat or dog, as a member of the family.

Im convinced that we vegans are the enlightened ones, our thinking is light

years ahead of everyone elses !!