Two proposals by European economic and political bodies could spell financial disaster for the kosher meat business, according to British experts on shechitah, or kosher slaughtering.
The Council of Europe, which consists of member states and non-members of the European Community, has suggested that meat slaughtered by the kosher method should not be sold to the general public.
The council’s guidelines, which are non-binding on individual countries, would nevertheless “increase the pressure” on shechitah, according to Berel Berkovits, a dayan, or religious judge, of the Federation of Synagogues here.
Berkovits, who keeps close watch on developments in Europe that could affect shechitah, sees greater peril in a proposition by the E.C.
The Brussels-based E.C., whose decisions are binding on its 12 member states, is considering legislation to require meat produced by any religious slaughtering method to be labeled as such.
The hindquarters of ritually slaughtered animals, which are not kosher, are currently sold to non-kosher butchers for general consumption.
Providers of kosher meat fear that if labeling is introduced, supermarkets and other outlets would refuse to stock meat from animals slaughtered according to the laws of shechitah.
According to Berkovits, “labeling implies to the average, uneducated member of the public that meat produced by shechitah has been slaughtered in an inhumane manner. Already some supermarkets in Britain are refusing meat killed by Jewish methods,” he said.
If such refusal becomes widespread, the soaring price of kosher meat would spell ruin for many Jewish butchers, Berkovits explained.
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