[London, Palace of Westminster, Monday, 15th December 2025] Shimon Cohen, Campaign Director of Shechita UK, addressed a cross-faith focus group convened by the Jhatka Council at the Palace of Westminster, bringing together parliamentarians, DEFRA officials, veterinary representatives, and Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and of course Sikh faith leaders to discuss religious slaughter, animal welfare, and UK law.
In his presentation, Shimon Cohen set out the nature of Shechita as a lawful, humane method of slaughter recognised in UK primary legislation, emphasising that it “stuns, dispatches and exsanguinates in one action,” resulting in the immediate loss of cerebral blood flow and consciousness. He further highlighted that Shechita is a method and process, not a ritual, governed by tightly regulated requirements on training, licensing and animal handling that have been enforced for centuries under Jewish law, where “causing suffering to living creatures is prohibited.”
Addressing comparisons with mechanical stunning, Shimon Cohen noted that such methods are primarily driven by industrial efficiency rather than welfare, pointing to concerns around water-bath stunning, gas, and other factory processes, particularly in poultry production. Other groups also noted these issues with mechanical stunning processes.
Finally, Shimon concluded with stressing the limited scale of Shechita in the UK, explaining that the Jewish community slaughters less than 0.5 percent of animals for food annually, with production carried out for the Jewish community’s use.
The panel discussion included contributions from halal experts, Sikh representatives, veterinary professionals and the Church of England, with broad agreement on the importance of protecting freedom of religion alongside animal welfare, and on the need for informed, evidence-based discussion rather than stigma or misconception.
Shechita UK continues to engage constructively with government, regulators and wider stakeholders to ensure that longstanding legal protections for religious slaughter are maintained within the UK’s parliamentary democracy.