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Farming Today: Religious slaughter, Food names, and Pink-footed geese

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14/03/2018

Religious slaughter, Food names, and Pink-footed geese

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, Religious slaughter, Food names, and Pink-footed geese

A new method of stunning animals in abattoirs is being tested.

A new way of stunning livestock in abattoirs is under trial, the American view of Champagne and Parma ham, and the Scottish farmer in a flap over migratory geese.

An innovative new abattoir technique is undergoing tests with high hopes it could be an acceptable form of religious slaughter. The Islamic form of slaughtering animals involves cutting the throat whilst prayers are said. The livestock should be alive and healthy at the time. Now research is underway into a type of high voltage electrical stunning which doesn't cause instantaneous death and could adhere to the principals of Halal. 

Champagne, Parmesan cheese and Parma ham have become embroiled in the Brexit process. Trade lobbyists in America are calling on the UK Government to drop geographical name protections used throughout Europe when we leave the European Union. The U.S. Dairy Export Council has told Farming Today that it considers some food names to be generic terms and protecting them is anti-competitive and a barrier to trade. 

The arrival of spring means lambing and green grass, but in Kinloss in North East Scotland the new season also signals the arrival of migrating Pink-Footed Geese. Sheep farmer Cameron MacIver says the birds have a taste for the new shoots, denying the new-born lambs their spring food. 

Presented by Anna Hill.
Produced by Vernon Harwood.

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