Halal labeling is not a conspiracy, it is just that Muslims are far less sensitive to pricing of their meat and so constitute a hot market for retailers.
Halal certified meat is just meat for the rest of us. Buy it, eat it, if the higher price doesn't turn you away.
This whole mistreatment issue doesn't come up in large mechanized abatoirs. There is no mistreatment of the beasts, just ensuring a quick death. The Canada Food Inspection Agency has the same objectives.
Some certification bodies may be more flexible than others. Eventually, it is up to individuals to bring it up to their personal spiritual standards by blessing the meat before consumption.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is just as interested in the humane treatment of animals as the halal certification body. Generally, Halal mechanized killing still involves stunning, it just does not allow death by stunning to be labelled Halal.
Industry has until April 4, 2016 to comply with the requirement to provide the name of the certifying body on any products labelled or advertised as halal
Halal - Method of Production Claims - Food - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Halal Method of Production Claims on food labels, packaging or advertising material must now include the name of the certifying body as per amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations. Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Australian producer:
...The Halal company that certifies us is based in Sydney, they come and they audit us and then they go away again, they don't bless our foods, they don't bless our site, there's no religious context to it, they check our hygiene and they check that there's no alcohol there.'
Source: What's the big fuss about Halal certification? - Bush Telegraph - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)more
...In most developed countries, mechanisation is gaining prominence. Therefore meat sourced from those countries are increasingly slaughtered and processed mechanically. Muslims from Far East, Middle East, North America and Africa are buying from mechanised sources.
As it is evident increasing numbers of scholars are coming to term with mechanised slaughter. Some still have reservations. It is worth noting that scholars from all schools of thoughts, Far East, South East, Middle East and North Africa and Americas are on board with approving mechanised slaughter of chicken in line with Halal Food Authority’s diversified Board of Scholars.
Source: Mechanical Slaughter is Acceptable and allowed - Halal Food Authority
