ABSTRACT
In the late 1950s, the United States (US) government, including Congress, began to debate some of the issues that need to be addressed to assure the humane slaughter of animals. This included the religious slaughter of animals. Because of the continuous involvement of food safety and inspection service, the practical issues that arise with the religious slaughter of animals and how that process interacts with the government inspectors had to be negotiated. Because all labels are approved by US Department of Agriculture (USDA), this also means that at some level they are approving the religious slaughter of animals by putting the mandatory USDA “wholesomeness” seal on products. Plants that conduct ritual slaughter should use the same scoring procedures except for stunning scoring, which should be omitted in plants that conduct ritual slaughter without stunning. Animals must be completely insensible before any other slaughter procedure is performed.
