Kosher Slaughter Without Stunning Banned in Denmark

Religious slaughter of animals without stunning them first is now banned in Denmark, bringing into question the religious freedom of residents.

Nyhederne TV2 reports the new law will go into effect Feb. 17. Danish slaughterhouses will no longer be able to apply for a religious exemption to prior stunning of animals after that date.

But some religious officials state the new law interferes with freedom of religion, including members of the Jewish Society and the Islamic Religious Community, both in Denmark.

Food Minister Karen Hækkerup requested last August that religious slaughter without stunning be banned in Denmark, putting the new law into motion.

The Jewish Society and the Islamic Religious Community have tried to meet with the current food minister Dan Jørgensen to express their concerns regarding the new law.

Jørgensen has refused the meeting and referred the groups to the DVFA (Danish Veterinary and Food Administration).

According to the World Jewish Congress, the ban will have little practical consequences for Jewish life in Denmark since for the past ten years all kosher meat sold in Denmark has been imported from abroad.

5 Comments

  • ...little practical consequences for Jewish life in Denmark

    But chas v’shalom this disease could spread to other areas in Europe and around the world. Will the USA with P.E.T.A. be far behind?
    Yidden, keep davenning for the geula.

  • Susan from S. Diego

    This is the same country where they’re about to kill another giraffe in front of children in the zoo and do a necropsy, in front of children at the zoo, just because there are too many giraffes in the zoo and its too much trouble to move them to a different zoo.

    • Milhouse

      They will stun the giraffe first, so what’s the problem? Children should see the realities of the cycle of life, and learn some basic biology. What do you think happens at kapporos; a child who sees the shechitah knows what it means to eat chicken soup.

    • K

      Milhouse again writes foolishness, “Children should see the realities of the cycle of life.”

      No, children should only see what they can process without trauma – only what is age appropriate. A child should not see, for example, a human corpse, even though that is “the realities of the cycle of life.”

      Not all children should see the actual shchita of kapparos – for some it may be too traumatizing.

      As far as knowing “what it means to eat chicken soup” – even adults who are very sensitive may lose their appetites if they are subjected to watching the food preparation in the kitchen..

  • wrong title

    Koshering slaughter has been banned in that counntry becuae if an animal is stunned first, it is not kosher.