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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) halal and (b) kosher slaughterhouses have operated in the UK in each year since 2020, by local authority area.

The number of slaughterhouses carrying out slaughter using the halal or shechita methods is not routinely recorded, as no specific approval from the Food Standards Agency is required to use these methods. However, the FSA’s most recent slaughter sector survey showed that in February 2024: for cattle, there were 4 slaughterhouses that used the Shechita method and 4 that used the non-stun halal method; for sheep, there were 5 that used the Shechita method and 12 that used the non-stun halal method; for meat chickens, there were 4 slaughterhouses that used the Shechita method and 10 that used the non-stun halal method. Additionally, some slaughterhouses also utilise the stunned halal method too.