Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 12 December (HL Deb, cols 1337–1340), what is the average time it takes for unstunned (1) lambs, and (2) cattle to die after their throats have been cut under the Halal method of slaughter; and how many lambs and cattle are so slaughtered each year in the UK.

Legislation on the welfare of animals at slaughter is based on scientific data for time to unconsciousness after the neck cut, rather than time to death, as the period between the neck cut and loss of consciousness has more welfare significance. The time to unconsciousness and time to death will vary amongst animals, influenced by a number of factors including the quality of the neck cut, restraint and occlusion of blood vessels. No data is collected on average time to death for animals subject to religious slaughter or to other slaughter methods, although various research projects have commented upon the time to unconsciousness, such as the EU Dialrel project.

The Department does not hold data on animals killed by Halal slaughter methods each year. The data we hold on this is based on surveys carried out by the Food Standards Agency (FSA). The latest FSA survey, carried out earlier this year over a one week period, indicates that 214 cattle and 60,748 sheep were subject to non-stun Halal slaughter that week.