Kosher Slaughter Outlawed In New Zealand – Jews Insist It Is Humane

New Zealand has become the fourth country to outlaw Jewish ritual slaughtering, authorities said Sunday, after Iceland, Norway, and Sweden took similar measures in the past.

Under the newly instated Animal Welfare Commercial Slaughter Code, announced by David Carter, New Zealand’s Agriculture Minister, commercially killed animals would have to be stunned before slaughter, making kosher slaughter, or shchita, illegal, according to the Jewish Australian News service.

According to the report, while the new regulations are to take immediate effect,

kosher beef will be able to be imported into New Zealand.

Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence, the former leader of the Auckland Hebrew Congregation, told the Jewish Australian News that “there is a strong body of veterinary and animal welfare research which continues to confirm shechita as a humane method of slaughter of the highest standard.”

Minister Cater reached the contentious decision, despite the fact that the report compiled by The National Animal Welfare Advisory Council, on which Carter based his decision, stated that “that the rights of the New Zealand Jewish community to practice its religious beliefs accorded by the Bill of Rights Act must be balanced against animal welfare considerations.”

The Australian news agency added that the report also said that other alternatives short of an outright ban on shechita could be made available to the government.

Kosher foods are those that conform to the rules of the Jewish religion. These rules form the main aspect of kashrut, Jewish dietary laws.

Reasons for food being non-kosher include the presence of ingredients derived from non-kosher animals or from kosher animals that were not properly slaughtered, a mixture of meat and milk, wine or grape juice (or their derivatives) produced without supervision, the use of produce from Israel that has not been tithed, or even the use of cooking utensils and machinery which had previously been used for non-kosher food. These might include utensils and machines used for making pork or other non-kosher products.

NEWS SOURCE