Leaders of the Islamic community have urged schools to “take responsibility” and tell parents whether they serve only Halal meat.
Members of the Waltham Forest Council of Mosques (WFCOM) said they felt sympathy for parents after the Guardian’s revelation that three-quarters of schools under local authority control only serve the Muslim-approved meat.
Parents have taken issue with the fact that many of them have not been informed by their children’s school that it orders just Halal food from the council’s supplier, Waltham Forest Catering.
Muslim scripture also prohibits pork.
Sa’id Looch said: “Schools need to take responsibility and inform parents of what they’re going to do. They need to be as open about it as possible.”
Chairman Yusuf Hansa added: “It’s fair for parents to raise their concerns where the larger number of children at a school are not Muslim so therefore their expectation is for normal meat to be served.
“Where there’s a large majority of Muslims the parents’ expectations should be that the school serves Halal meat. If possible there could be a choice, but not all schools have the space for that.”
Parents have raised objections because of animal welfare issues with the method used to slaughter Halal meat – stunning it before workers recite the name of Allah and drain all the animal’s blood.
Some claim the stunning does not always knock the animal unconscious, simply immobilising it.
But WFCOM said it is not uncruel and members said they have written to 26 schools to find out what type of meat they serve.
The group also said Halal meat is healthier because the blood is drained away, reducing the number of bacteria found in the food.
Waltham Forest is home to around 33,000 Muslims, equivalent to 15 per cent of the population, according to the latest available figures.
A total of 46 schools and academies supported by the local authority order only Halal meat.
Just one school serves both Halal and non-Halal meat and 15 serve meat from animals slaughtered using ‘standard’ methods, a Guardian enquiry has discovered.
There are also 14 schools outside of the authority’s control which make their own meal arrangements.
A spokesman for the council said: “Waltham Forest Catering supplies Halal meat to 46 of the borough’s schools. Whether or not we provide them with Halal meat is a decision for each individual school.
“This is not an issue of cost, and more often than not comes down to simple logistics as many school kitchens simply aren’t big enough to allow staff to store and prepare two types of meat.”