Dutch to ban export of kosher meat

The Dutch government says it plans to limit ritual slaughter through new measures, including a ban on the export of kosher and halal meat.

Agriculture Minister Martijn van Dam announces his government’s plan in a letter sent to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament.

In addition to the ban on exporting kosher and halal meat, the new measures will make the production of such meat subject to the discretion of officials from the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority — an organization that last year urged the government to ban ritual slaughter outright, claiming it was inhumane.

The authority “will oversee compliance with legal requirements connected to animal welfare,” the letter read. In slaughter without prior stunning – a requirement in both kosher and halal slaughter – the authority “will permanently oversee the actual practice of the slaughter.” Slaughterhouses will bear the costs of the expenditure connected with subjecting their activity to the authority, the letter reads.

The Netherlands does not export significant amounts of kosher meat.

— JTA