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Muslims in America and Europe who wish to keep their diets halal<\/i> with meat slaughtered ritually (similar to Jewish shechita<\/i> or kosher rules) have until recently had a difficult time. Unless you lived in areas of heavy Muslim concentration, it was difficult to get fresh halal<\/i> meat, so you had to settle for the canned stuff, eat kosher meat, or go veggie<\/a>. But the market has grown considerably over the last decade, with the halal<\/i> meat industry now bringing in over $12 billion<\/a> in revenue in the US alone. That fact has a lot of Muslims happily munching on halal kababs<\/a>, but some people aren\u2019t too happy<\/a> about it. In the UK, where halal<\/i> meat comprises 25% of all lamb and 7% of all chicken, a government commission is about to conclude that Muslim and Jewish methods of slaughter are inhumane<\/a>, mainly because ritual slaughter does not include stunning the animal first. \u201cThe rendering of unconsciousness [through stunning] is a very immediate thing that happens,\u201d says Dr. MacArthur Clark<\/a>, chairwoman of the Farm Animal Welfare Council, \u201ctherefore those animals are clearly suffering far far less.\u201d Understandably, Muslim groups in the UK aren\u2019t too happy about the move, coming so soon after their concerns over war with Iraq were brushed aside<\/a>. \u201cWe oppose it from a legal point, from a religious point, from a health and medical point and from an animal welfare point,\u201d said a spokesperson from the Muslim Council of Britain<\/a>. Here in the US, plans for a major Muslim slaughterhouse in Minnesota are on hold<\/a> due to intense opposition from neighbors. \u201cWe have 250 slaughter plants in the state and I don\u2019t know of one that has had to go through what this guy has,\u201d said Kevin Elfering of Minnesota\u2019s Department of Agriculture. County Zoning Commissioner Trent McCorkell received a phone call complaining<\/a> about members of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Muslim community coming to the slaughterhouse that explained, \u201cWe don\u2019t want that kind of person here.\u201d The more roadblocks that are put in front of halal<\/i> meat slaughter in the US and UK, the better for countries like Canada who are eager to serve<\/a> the Muslim market \u2013 about 20% of all Canadian beef produced for export is halal<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n

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