in america, cows in processing plants are shocked first then while under unconsiiounseess are killed. the cows don’t feel a thing. I am sure it doesn’t work all the time, but at least an effort is made.

The more I think about it – we should treat all animals kindly. I mean, we’re eating them, the least we can do is treat them well and not let them have pain at our benefit, especially since we’re the cause of their death.

I’m sure if we wanted to do, this could be done, but of course, it would cost money. \

Best thing to do is avoid halal or kosher meats. The fact that blood is left to drain out, really, doesn’t in my opinion make the meats better. I am sure there are other reasons to buy kosher meat or halal meat, but I can’t imagine all the claims are true, or practiced all the time.

Organic meats, free-range chicken for instance, are supposed to allow chickens to roam freely. There are also cattle ranches where they prefer the cow be left to roam and hence happiier, which produces better meat. It’s been proven that an animal who is stressed, will tense its muscles and produce tougher meat.

I would gladly pay a bit more / or eat slightly less knowing that the animals were treated and killed humanely.

One of the other sanctioned-by-religion methods of slaughter is ‘Jhatka’ – Sikhs follow this method . It involves a quick , clean cut (in one ‘jhatka’) to the animal’s neck instead of waiting for the blood to pulse out through cuts . A historian friend tells me that the friction between the Sikhs and the Mughals led to the Halal method being proscribed for Sikhs . The Jhatka method was a commonly used one by Hindus and was adopted/inherited by the Sikhs and considered a method that set them apart from Muslims . I am digging up info about the background of religious sanctions/strictures about the two methods to back up her assertions . But either way , like you suggest , a visit to a slaughterhouse is a good way to understand where our food comes from and what happens to our food before it reaches our tables – especially if it leads to better pre-slaughter treatment of the animals . Though maybe not an interesting visit for children (a petting zoo? at a slaughterhouse? urgh) . I doubt many can stomach watching the Halal method – its heartbreaking to stand there and watch a living animal bleed to death . The Jhatka method is a little easier to take , though the post-slaughter twitching (and once , running!)is BIZARRE in the extreme . I live in a somewhat rural community here and see both methods fairly regularly . Maybe an introduction to the untold story of food should begin in Jhatka slaughterhouses (are there any such places) and then move on to Halal – no religious angle , purely from the point of view of squeamishness . And yes Amitabh , like AMA says , our neighbourhood butcher (Muslim) picks Halal as the more humane method . He tells me the thoughts of the person doing the slaughter are full of regard for the animal and he conducts it in a spirit of thankfulness (translated quite loosely , I admit) .

Sorry for my tone.

I assumed that because people who are jewish and muslim told me it was so. Sorry for annoying you with my post Amitabh.

I guess I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt to the man who devised this method — Prophet Muhammed.

I figured since he was a pious, God-loving and meditative spiritual leader, he would also have the best interest of animals in mind.

My impression was that in those days, in that region, not a whole lot of meat was eaten, and the meat that was — well the prophet allowed for it but put rules around it so that animals would not suffer so much, but the ideal would have been to forego as much meat as possible (keeping in mind it is a desert region), so as to inflict as little pain onto another living creature as possible, keeping in line with my concepts of compassion and what it means to be God-loving and loving towards God’s creatures.

Maybe back in those days the halal method was the least painful. Nowadays we have different technology though.

Why would you assume that? And wouldn’t it be better to educate yourself about something before formulating an opinion about it?

I had no idea. I thought the main idea in Halal and kosher butchering was to make the killing as painless as possible.