Non-Halal slaughter is no less terrifying

In the UK there are over 350 licensed slaughterhouses. These businesses rarely permit individuals and animal welfare organisations to visit and even the government’s own advisory body, the Farm Animal Welfare Council, has been refused access to some of the larger plants.

However, despite this secrecy an internet search will reveal undercover footage and witness statements from reputable and respected sources testifying that animals struggle and fight to the last breath, just as we would do if we were in their place.

As well as being brutal for the animals it is well documented that slaughterhouse work is the employment category which has the highest incident of personal injury and workplace accidents.

Workers are paid minimum wage, receive little, if any, training and endure poor working conditions.

Unsuprisingly, psychological and emotional problems are par for the course.

Ironically, the cholesterol in the meat produced by this hellish business is the major contributor to conditions such as heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

According to the British Heart Foundation, collectively heart and circulatory diseases cause more than one in three of all deaths in the UK, accounting for more than 191,000 deaths each year at an estimated cost of �30 billion to the economy.

Cholesterol is only found in animal products - in meat, eggs, and dairy.

Plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, pulses and nuts do not have any cholesterol at all.

In fact, these foods are high in soluble fibre which actually helps lower cholesterol.

In the US, through the work of pioneers such as Dr T Colin Campbell and Dr Caldwell B Esselstyn Jr and their life-changing film Forks over Knives this fact is beginning to receive the wider attention it merits, with high profile people such as Bill Clinton adopting a vegan diet in 2010 following persistent problems after quadruple heart-bypass surgery.

Jane Quarrington

Kings Avenue, Rye