TOT: extract from my letter to my MP

[Bill Wright]

Apparently Doncaster Royal Infirmary are revamping their catering arrangements, and as I understand it they intend to invite the Subway chain to operate in hospital premises. To do so would be a disgrace to the NHS, because Subway only sell Halal food. This means that the animals slaughtered to provide meat are killed in a cruel way, rather than humanely. This would normally be illegal but there is an exemption for Muslim and Jewish slaughterhouses. It?s wrong for the NHS to encourage animal cruelty in this way. Furthermore, Halal means that Subway do not provide ham or bacon products. I don?t see why patients and visitors should have to eat food from animals that have been made to suffer, or why we shouldn?t be allowed pork products, just to satisfy a small minority of consumers.

I hope you will look into this and if necessary bring influence to bear. I feel this proposal is an affront to the spirit of humanitarianism which gave us our wonderful NHS in the first place.

Bill

[Nick]

[Max Demian]

"?Formed meat."

They don't say what kind of meat it's "formed" from.

[Max Demian]

You must let us know what reply you get. Or maybe it'll just be filed under "old racist nutter".

[Nick]

Fair enough, but they do bacon too.

I think Subway have about 10% of stores which are Halal. Presumably these are in areas with a high Muslim population. I have no idea why Bill thinks the Doncaster store will be Halal.

Personally I'm supposed to eat low fat food and so have never eaten in a Subway. It would be good if a hospital eatery sold healthy food.

[harry]

They can produce halal/kosher meat cheaper so it's a loophole they have dis covered they can get away with.

[Huge]

Wrong.

[Huge]

You omitted the word "correctly", as in "filed correctly under 'old racist nutter'". Which is more than Bill is.

[Huge]

There is no "also" about it since Bill's assertion that "Subway only sell Halal food" is wrong.

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

I'm allergic to halal ........

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

Mmmmm Pork sausages ...Mmmmmm

[ARW]

Simos cafe is just around the corner.

I am sure their bacon enjoyed a nice life before being dragged to the slaughterhouse kicking and screaming.

[JoeJoe]

Not sure from what animal, but Formed suggest that it is the stuff that they sweep off the floor at the end of each day...

[GB]

That says nothing about it being cheaper. You made that up, surely?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Are the bacon rolls they sell Halal? We need to know.

[spuorgelgoog]

Maybe it's not piggy bacon.

I know my local takeaway does 'ham' and pineapple pizzas but all their food is halal.

Owain

[Bill Wright]

It varies from branch to branch apparently. They do what they need to do to keep on the right side of the locals. They are wrong in principle.

Bill

[Dave Plowman (News)]

+1. But then it's standard practice to dress up a racist rant under a different heading.

[Bill Wright]

It's standard practice to scream "Waaaasist" whenever anyone says anything the left doesn't agree with, be it a race issue or not.

Bill

[Tim Watts]

That's not totally a given. Halal *may* be stunned, but an excemption to stunning is available in law so it can go either way.

Nandos and KFC both claim their halal, where sold (selected stores) is stunned.

Waitrose meat (where halal) is also stunned (information from 2-3 years ago). New Zealand lamb is always stunned, even if certified halal, by law (there is no exemption there).

I'm totally against religious exemption to any law (one law for all is my motto) - but it's worth being exact in arguing the case.

Here are 3 petitions you may wish to consider (2 are uncontentious, duplicates, and call for labelling so the consumer may make a choice).

The other calls for a ban on religious exemption for both Islamic and Jewish slaughter:

These are "proper" petitions, not that change.org (etc) nonsense that spam you.

I strongly encourage people to take a look :)