Two of Canada’s leading kosher certification agencies, along with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, are taking legal action against the national government over recent regulations on animal slaughter, which they say are threatening the country’s kosher industry.

In a statement, the three organizations – the Kashruth Council of Canada, the Jewish Community Council of Montreal, and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs – said: “Since these new guidelines have gone into effect, the amount of kosher meat produced in Canada has decreased dramatically. The community has been trying to temporarily supplement this shortfall with imported kosher meat, but this situation is not viable over the long term.”

The lawsuit centers on the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, introduced by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which require the use of a stun gun in animal slaughter – a practice prohibited in shechita. Without a stun gun, ritually slaughtered livestock and birds must pass multiple cognitive tests to indicate loss of consciousness and brain death before continuing in the meat production process, adding time and complexity to a process that would otherwise take under a minute, kosher proponents argue.

The lawsuit claims that between August 2022 and January 2023, the number of kosher meat processing plants in Canada has fallen from six to four, resulting in a decline in the weekly yield of domestically produced kosher beef from 3,400 to 1,750 head of cattle.

This legal challenge comes after years of challenges to kosher slaughter in Europe, with a recent decision by the Court of the European Union upholding a ban on kosher slaughter in two of Belgium’s three regions.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)