TWO secret decisions to first serve then stop serving halal meat in thousands of Camden school dinners have come under fire from a pair of leading national Muslim organisations.
The criticism comes after the New Journal last week revealed that halal meat was routinely and secretly served to pupils at more than 50 schools across the borough.
Its removal from menus at all but two schools last July, after a mother at Eleanor Palmer School discovered it and complained to the Town Hall that halal slaughter was cruel, was also hushed up.
Teachers, governors, parents, pupils and councillors were all deliberately kept in the dark about both the decision to carry on serving halal meat and then the decision to remove it.
Halal slaughter in its most orthodox form requires animals to have their throats cut without first being stunned, although some Muslims now back the partial pre-stunning process favoured by Camden’s suppliers.