On Tuesday, the House of Commons held a short debate in Westminster Hall on the religious slaughter of farm animals. Opening the debate, George Eustice (Camborne and Redruth) (Con), suggested a number of possible improvements to the present regime:
- labelling meat as un-stunned, “because that is a clearly definable legal definition”;
- increasing the “standstill time” on bovine animals from the current limit of 30 seconds to at least one-and-a-half or two minutes to ensure that there is no movement of a bovine animal while it is still conscious;
- requiring a post-cut stun on all bovine animals, “recognising that there is an issue with the physiology of bovines, which leads to a long and protracted death”.