Eating meat is not murder, it's much worse than that, according to the celebrated miserablist and former Smiths singer Morrissey.

"I see no difference between eating animals and paedophilia," he said. "They are both rape, violence, murder. If I'm introduced to anyone who eats beings, I walk away."

While devout Morrissey fans may regard his every word as divine writ – including his recent monumental autobiography which he insisted on being published in the Penguin Classics series – he pushed them to the limit in his latest utterances.

"Imagine, for example, if you were in a nightclub and someone said to you: 'Hello, I enjoy bloodshed, throat-slitting and the destruction of life,' well, I doubt if you'd want to exchange phone numbers," he said.

The insights were shared in a Q&A session on his fan website, True to You. Asked about his proudest achievement, he said it was persuading many people to stop eating meat. "If you believe in the abattoir then you would support Auschwitz. There's no difference."

But he wasn't done: "If Jamie 'Orrible is so certain that flesh-food is tasty then why doesn't he stick one of his children in a microwave?" he asked. And of Cilla Black preparing a leg of lamb recently on television: "Since a lamb is a baby, I wondered what kind of mind Cilla Black could possibly have that would convince her that eating a baby is OK?"

His argument failed to convince some. "This isn't in any way intended to cause offence to you or any other Morrissey enthusiasts, but he really does need a good shoeing sometimes," Dan Layton commented on the Gigwise website, one of many which took up the subject.

Morrissey also threatened to "slip into permanent unconsciousness" if any journalist ever asked him again about the Smiths.

Mark Fairley suggested: "The sooner someone asks him about the Smiths, the better …"