Sunday 6 February 2011

Woman Angry At Reading Stupid News

Today I stumbled across an awful story. A story so bad it made me break down and weep, cursing the cruelty that the world can inflict upon poor innocents. A story so utterly, utterly heartrending that I'm not sure I can bring myself to write about the terrible plight suffered by the victim. But I shall. I will remain strong, because this is a story that needs to be told to the world.

The poor innocent victim I speak of? That victim was me, when I had to read this utter rubbish:

"Woman angry at KFC meat policy".

A woman is angry that she ate halal chicken from Keighley’s KFC restaurant without realising.

Emma Lee did not realise that all meat sold at the outlet had been slaughtered in line with Islamic beliefs.

All fillets sold at the company’s Keighley restaurant are drained of blood and blessed by a Muslim slaughterman.

The policy was brought in to cater to the large Muslim population around the restaurant at Keighley Retail Park in Hard Ings Road.

KFC says the killing method complies with both Islamic teaching and rigorous animal standards. The takeaway giant insists the chickens are stunned before they are slaughtered and their care meets UK and EU laws.

Ms Lee, from the Skipton area, said she felt “totally violated” when she discovered what she had eaten during her visit.

She said: “I was absolutely disgusted. I have been eating food that is against my beliefs!”

Ms Lee said she objected to halal killing on both religious and animal welfare grounds. She said: “I have no problem with people who do wish to eat halal meat, that is their personal choice.

“I just feel like I had my personal choice taken away from me by changing the meat without informing us so I could go elsewhere.”

Ms Lee said that while queuing she noticed a certificate on the wall saying the restaurant was allowed to sell halal meat.

She added: “I sat down to enjoy my dinner and got thinking about this. I started to get a bit concerned. It turns out that all the meat they serve in store is halal meat. I feel that everybody should know what they are eating.”

KFC introduced halal-only meat at about 100 restaurants across the UK last year in communities where it anticipated a strong demand. Pork is not allowed under Islamic law, so the company’s Big Daddy burger with bacon was withdrawn.

Although the chickens are killed mechanically, the slaughter and preparation methods are certified by the Halal Food Authority.

KFC’s website states: “The edicts and requirements for Halal accreditation are strictly followed. A verse is recited from the Qu’ran by an appropriate person at the point of slaughter.”

KFC said the animals were not dead prior to slaughtering and all blood was drained from their bodies. It added: “We remain committed to the same animal welfare standards and insist our poultry is stunned before slaughter – a pain- free process that makes the animal insensible to pain and suffering.

“We will only purchase high quality, Grade A, farm-assured chicken from the same leading suppliers used by major retailers.”



So, some time around the end of 2009 (I can't find exact dates), KFC, in response to customer feedback, decided to supply around 100 of its 'restaurants' with halal meat. Yes, this is the TERRIBLE INJUSTICE suffered by whinging EDL fwap-fodder Emma Lee.  A woman who has, presumably, never heard the phrase "supply and demand" in her life.

KFC point out in their FAQ on the matter that the restaurants which are halal-only display the Halal Food Authority logo on the door, and were also chosen to be in close proximity to non-halal restaurants.

Emma Lee claims that she feels "completely violated" and "absolutely disgusted" that she ate food which was against her "beliefs" (I don't know how long being a stupid bigot has counted as a 'belief', but there you go).

She also tries to claim that this she opposes the move to halal-only on "religious and animal welfare grounds". Now, I've looked for a religion that forbids eating halal meat, but I can't find one, so I can only assume that what she opposes is the religion that halal meat comes from. As for animal welfare? Don't make me fucking laugh love, you're eating KFC.

Her story gets even stupider after that. She claims that she has "no problem with people who do wish to eat halal meat, that is their personal choice" (except if they want to buy it from a popular fast food chain of course, then she's opposed to it).

She then says "I just feel like I had my personal choice taken away from me by changing the meat without informing us so I could go elsewhere", and "I feel that everybody should know what they are eating".

The restaurant had a sign on the door, and a plaque on the wall, that she even says she read before ordering her food that said it was halal-only. She freely admits that she walked in, looked at a sign that said that the food was halal, ordered the food, sat down and started eating it, and only THEN did it dawn on her that she might be eating halal food (which I'm still not sure why she opposes).

Without getting into a huge debate about the rights and wrongs of eating any meat (yes, I am a vegetarian), I'd love to be able to ask Emma what her opinion on kosher meat is, given that that forbids the stunning of the animal before slaughter, unlike the halal meat in this case, which was stunned.

So, to summarise: Woman so thick it takes her brain ten minutes to process what is on a sign she read doesn't want people of a different religion to hers to be able to eat in the same restaurants, because the rights of a white woman who wants to be a bigot should trump the rights of all the local muslims. Or something like that.

Predictably, the local EDL dickheads have picked up on the story as an example of the inexhaustable tide of "islamification" across the UK. It's so nice of the Keighley News to give them bullshit like this to feed on, don't you think?

4 comments:

  1. I don't think people really understand what halal is. A muslim colleague explained it to me as a blessing and thanks to god for the life which has been taken in order to provide food. Halal appears to me to respect life and to remind us that we have to kill if we eat meat. Pretty civilised I think. I do think also that it is a shame that people hide their ignorance, racism and Islamophobia behind some kind of animal rights banner or religious belief/teaching which does not exist. If these people actually checked with their church and welfare standards they might learn that their fears were unfounded. I hope that this lady does a little more research than just consulting KFC in future.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've had this argument with people before and to be honest don't really wish to again, but Halal is not just the blessing of the animal, it's 'some of the time' slitting it's throat without stunning it first http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/sep/20/halal-meat-the-truth http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/Satellite?blobcol=urlblob&blobheader=application/pdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=RSPCABlob&blobwhere=1109267162636&ssbinary=true

    I personally wouldn't eat Halal meat but that's just my choice over the slaughtering method just like I wouldn't buy battery eggs or chicken and I won't tolerate fur especially after seeing this video: http://features.peta.org/ChineseFurFarms

    Humans are a cruel species and the less I can contribute to that, the better, but at the end of the day, we're top of the food chain and meat, well, tastes good.

    To be fair to Ms Lee, she said 'that while queuing she noticed a certificate on the wall saying the restaurant was allowed to sell halal meat' not that 'all the meat was Halal' although her other comments are mostly total bollocks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why would the Keighley News consider this newsworthy is another good question

    ReplyDelete
  4. She felt "violated" as this is the language people have learnt from the no win no fee ambulance chasers with whom, no doubt, she is in talks to try and win a family bucket-load of compensation from corporate KFC.

    ReplyDelete