Shechita – the Jewish religious humane method of animal slaughter for food
Publications
A Guide to Shechita 2016
Shechita is the Jewish religious and humane method of slaughtering permitted animals and poultry for food. It is the only method of producing kosher meat and poultry allowed by Jewish law. It is a most humane method as explained below….
There is no ritual involved in shechita…
Shechita – Scientific Update 2015
Dr Stuart Rosen presents an update to his 2004 Paper: Physiological Insights into Shechita which was published in the journal of the British Veterinary Association – The Veterinary Record
A perspective on the electrical stunning of animals
Are there lessons to be learned from human electro-convulsive therapy (ECT)?
Ari Z Zivotofsky and Rael D Strous explore the use of electrical stunning, the most commonly employed method in commercial abattoirs. Their article focusses on reversible electrical stunning, proving this method is problematic from an animal welfare perspective.
Published in Meat Science (2012).
Government Regulations of Shechita in the Twenty-First Century: Are They Ethical?
Ari Z. Zivotofsky
This paper presents the requisite background about shechita and then analyses the ethics of some of the recent legislation. The analysis includes a rebuttal of the assertion that shechita is an inhumane method of slaughter.
It further presents the consequences on the Jewish community of legislation to impose pre-slaughter stunning and explains why such legislation is unethical. The actual effect of labelling laws is discussed and it is shown why such laws are also unethical.
Published in Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics (2011)
Physiological Insights into Shechita
Dr S D Rosen discusses the scientific literature on the behavioural responses to Shechita as well as neurophysiological studies relevant to the assessment of pain, and concludes that Shechita is a painless and humane method of animal slaughter
Much of the data presented on scientific aspects of Shechita has been known for decades, although a number of new perspectives are included. To illustrate the principles, and make the process more comprehensible, a number of analogous human clinical scenarios are also considered.
The issues of restraint of larger animals, cerebral blood flow and consciousness, cardiac activity, muscular spasms and behavioural responses, pain and mechanical stunning are all covered in this paper first published June 2004 in the journal of the British Veterinary Association – The Veterinary Record
