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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to undertake a consultation on the labelling of non-stun slaughter meat.

There are no Regulations that require the labelling of non-stun slaughter meat, but where any information of this nature is provided it must be accurate and must not be misleading to the consumer. The Government respects religious freedoms and expects the industry, whether food producer or food outlet, to provide consumers with all the information they need to make informed choices.

As recently announced by the Secretary of State, we will soon be launching a consultation on clearer food labelling. This will include proposals to improve and extend current mandatory method of production labelling, including options for the production standards behind them. Our proposed standards initially focus on the period of time the animal spends on farm. We will seek views through consultation on these standards, including the period of life which they should cover.