In recent months, we have had to report a worrying number of political attacks on shechita. Across Europe, the enemies of religious freedom have been doing their damnedest to have shechita criminalised. But, oh, what a delicious irony! In the middle of a food scandal which is increasingly destroying confidence in the reliability and safety of non-kosher meat with every passing day, there is one form of slaughter which remains a beacon of clarity and traceability: animals killed by shechita. How those leading the attack on shechita must be hating this crisis. Because there could be no clearer demonstration of the utility — even without any religious imperative — of kashrut. Bite into a vienna, or enjoy wurst and eggs, and you know that every stage of the meat’s journey to your plate has been followed and approved by the kashrut authorities. As Rabbi Yehuda Brodie of the Manchester Beth Din puts it, kosher is the “gold standard” of food supervision. As the current non-kosher crisis shows, far from banning shechita, anyone concerned with food safety should learn from it.
