Only a "few" Subway outlets are selling Halal meat, doing what every business does, responding to consumer demand.
If you open a Subway in an area that has a majority Muslim population, why would you exclude each and every one of them as customers, it wouldn't make sense.
McDonalds tried it a few years ago in one of its branches, it didn't work for them, so they stopped it, responding to market demand.
The view of how an animal is killed in the Halal way seems to concentrate on one point, the slitting of its throat. Life itself can be very difficult to take away (as a recent USA execution showed). Non-halal food can be herded, stunned, electrocuted (not always successfully), a bolt through the brain etc, non of them particularly nice, but all (from tests of the amount of adrenalin, caused by stress/fear in the animals later) much worse than allowing the blood to be pumped out of the body until the heat stops.
A sick animal can never be killed the Halal way, they must always be healthy, the food is carefully monitored (not a single case of horsemeat in any Halal foods) and if anyone thinks that Subway adjusting a few of its menus will change life in the UK forever they need to look around.
None of the Subway in this area are going to change, why, because there is zero demand for it.
Who has been to Manchester's "curry mile" ? Just about every one is Halal certified. The regulars want it, and nobody else notices any difference.
If the demand is so strong in an area for an "old style" Subway, another one will open, it's a franchise, always available to someone who wants to take up the opportunity.
Extract: One of the benefits of living in the countryside is that you meet people that work in agriculture; these are the people that bring us our vegetables and meat. Through speaking to them I started to find out some things about both animal farming and supposed halal meat.
Animals are exploited. If one sees the conditions they are born, bred and die in it would horrify anyone with a good heart. Chickens lead miserable lives in huge sheds, sharing their space and air with thousands of others. They do nothing but feed and get fat as fast as possible ready to make their way to supermarkets selling them as "Value" meat or to a Chicken Cottage on the high street. Larger animals face similar problems. Lambs are pumped full of steroids to make sure they don't die, ewes with hormones so they give birth out of season and both feed on grass treated with insecticides. Cattle are sometimes born and bred in sheds; they never see daylight or eat a blade of grass.
Muslims need to ask whether this is something they are truly happy eating. Is it good to eat meat that is full of rubbish, that led a miserable life and a stressful end? Is it not possible that all this transfers into the meat? One also needs to ask if this method of farming sits with the ethos and spirit of Islam. Does Islam not teach compassion, kindness and does it not fight exploitation? To me both these elements make most of the meat in the UK inedible.
Extract: as you can see, there are some people out there that do not seem to have a conscience. They are pumping out thousands of carcasses of haram meat to butchers and restaurants and you are eating it. However, my problems with halal meat do not stop there. I also question the hygiene standards of a lot of Muslim owned abattoirs. The vet at my abattoir once said to me that he has seen places in Birmingham that were "covered in shit". "How can you call that halal?" he asked me. My other issue is with the slaughter men. As someone who visits an abattoir every week and does between 10-30 lambs I know your mind drifts. .....
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle
It would be interesting to know if there are any other stores like the Bristol one which have removed pork from the menu.
And if the areas where the stores are predominant Muslim, is it a bad thing to cater for their locals? Ok, I'd be put out if I was passing and wanted a Ham sandwich, but how likely is that going to be?
On the other hand, when you're a national franchise which is supposed to be the same the whole country over, wouldn't you expect the menu to be the same? If they don't want to be a carbon copy Subway, maybe they shouldn't be one?
As has been said, its not a new story and is typical DM hate rousing, although Subway could have handled it better. The Halal statement has been on their website for some time.
And KFC had a similar issue when some of their franchises were not selling a special bacon topped chicken burger a couple of years back.
It is of some concern to practicing Christians though, as it can be considered a sin to consume meat sacrificed for another God. On the other hand, another part of the Bible says its a sin to waste food!
It is of some concern to practicing Christians though, as it can be considered a sin to consume meat sacrificed for another God. On the other hand, another part of the Bible says its a sin to waste food!
Was that copy and paste or did you make it up ? Maybe you can quote the parts of the bible where these two 'sins' of yours mentioned, are mentioned to be 'sins'?
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle
It is of some concern to practicing Christians though, as it can be considered a sin to consume meat sacrificed for another God. On the other hand, another part of the Bible says its a sin to waste food!
Was that copy and paste or did you make it up ? Maybe you can quote the parts of the bible where these two 'sins' of yours mentioned, are mentioned to be 'sins'?
Quite irrelevant. The bible is only a compilation of fictitious stories anyway.
It is of some concern to practicing Christians though, as it can be considered a sin to consume meat sacrificed for another God. On the other hand, another part of the Bible says its a sin to waste food!
Was that copy and paste or did you make it up ? Maybe you can quote the parts of the bible where these two 'sins' of yours mentioned, are mentioned to be 'sins'?
Quite irrelevant. The bible is only a compilation of fictitious stories anyway.
...and the Quran ? The religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God or in Arabic, Allah, in case you didn't know. Is that also a complication of fictitious stories ? Is that not the reason why Halal meat is under discussion ? Anyway, I wasn't asking you I was asking Gibbo.
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle
What isn't fictitious is that animals are being cruelly dispatched. Whether it be on religious grounds or not, it is cruelty in my view. There must have been a time when all animals were dispatched without some form of anaesthetic, stunning, etc. The time must have then come when a law was passed that animals should be stunned prior to slaughter, there's no other reason other than animal welfare for there to be a need for stunning. On one hand stunning has to be carried out for animal welfare, on the other hand, animal welfare is dismissed because of religious beliefs.
Some will say it's only a cow, sheep or pig and they are going to die anyway, how many would allow a vet to slit their pets throat and bleed out, not many me finks.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
Yes, agreed Bert, particularly with the quantities which are now needed. To slaughter a cow, halal style, must surely be an horrendous death. One ray of hope, is the practice has been outlawed in Denmark already.
Two vid's might be of interest to some, so far I have not been able to watch.
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle