Just read yesterday, that if you are not a moslem you cannot get a job
as a slaughterman in many abattoirs.
I thought that would be illegal.

The Halal extortion, which is what it is, is put onto any purchaser
of the product. Sanitarium told me that they have to pay or they will
be banned in their export markets.
The little circle with the Arabic script is not placed on Sanitarium
products, so as as not to put Australians off.
The irony is Sanitarium is a Seventh Day Adventist compamy.
How do they feel about the other Christians in the Middle East.

BTW Halal is only needed for meat products, but it is levied on many
none meat products such as Soy Milk So Good, which on medical advice I use.
There are other brands and I have dropped Sanitarium and am looking
for an alternative to Weetbix.

Follow the money should be an exercise for our security people.
It is alleged that some of it goes to Islamist terrorists.

Dear Josephus,

I'm all for you raising a topic and putting a point of view but if you are asked a direct question about Kosher certification in Australia you don't squib it by claiming;

“My orthodox Jewish relatives do not purchase foods from products with a kosher certification label that has imposed costs on the producer, they purchase from the shelf of the supermarket foods they know to be kosher. The producer is not required to pay [fund] a Jewish organisation to carry a kosher certification label.”

That is dishonest and deceitful.

Dear Foxy,

A quick Google shows two main organisations doing Kosher certification.

Kosher Australia

“A typical certification for a single facility will cost between $AU 1500 to $AU 3000, but this is dependent on the actual conditions of the certification as stipulated by the Rabbinic Board. Blanket certificates are generally only granted for a 12-month period.”
http://www.kosher.org.au/content/certification-process

and;

Kashrut Authority

“Upon assessment of your application you will be contacted as to a plant visit. The usual charge for a plant visit is $250.00. If the visit leads to certification then this amount will be credited to your annual plant registration fee. For a domestic certificate, plant registration can be between $550.00 and $2,200.00 per annum. For an international certificate, plant registration can be between $2,200.00 and $6,600.00 per annum. This will depend on many factors and will be assessed by the Rabbinic Administrator and his team. While many products require only an annual visit some require many more visits per year. The Rabbinic Administrator will assess this at the time of his visit. These visits may cost between $250 and $1000 per visit depending on the nature of the visit required. Of course travelling costs will need to be borne by the company seeking certification.”
http://www.ka.org.au/index.php/Kosher_Certification_Guidelines.html

Hope this helps.

Halal describes what is lawful for Muslims to eat. Halal food laws are based on interpretation of the Quran, the Muslim scripture, and set out the range of beverages and foods (including meat) that are acceptable for Muslims to eat. The procedures for Halal slaughter can vary from place to place because of the differing interpretations of the Quran: this article describes Halal slaughter in Australia.
The main concern with halal slaughter is whether or not pre-slaughter stunning is used. In Australia, the national standard for meat production requires that all animals must be effectively stunned (unconscious) prior to slaughter. The vast majority of halal slaughter in Australia complies with this standard, that is, all animals are stunned prior to slaughter. The only difference is that a reversible stunning method is used, while conventional humane slaughter may use an irreversible stunning method. The time to regain consciousness following a reversible stun may vary depending on the intensity of the stun. At Australian abattoirs, the aim is to ensure that reversible stunning is done in a way that depth of unconsciousness is sufficient to allow for the animal to bleed out and die before there is a chance of regaining consciousness.
Halal slaughter in overseas abattoirs often does not include stunning - this is the key difference between halal slaughter in Australia and many other countries

There are a small number of abattoirs in Australia that have been granted permission from the relevant State or Territory food authority to conduct religious slaughter without prior stunning – for either Halal or Kosher (Jewish slaughter) purposes. These ‘approvals’ are effectively exemptions to standard Australian slaughter practice. The proportion of animals slaughtered under these exemptions is very small, but nevertheless that any animals are slaughtered without stunning is of concern to the RSPCA.

Bazz,

The allegations that some of the certification money goes to islamist terrorists are baseless, though I'd be very surprised if our scurity people haven't investigated it anyway.

Even if it it meets your extremely dubious definition of a tax, halal certification is not a consumption tax. Logically there are only two possible ways it could increase the prices you pay: firstly it could result in the producer being able to sell more products without having to resort to discounting. Having to resort to discounting may sound good, but it means the producer's less profitable, more likely to go out of business, and less likely to gain economies of scale.

The second way it's possible for halal certification to increase domestic proces is if it is done inexpectation of an increase in exports that never eventuates, withh the cost then being forced back onto the consumers. The classic example of this is the yoghurt producer in SA who paid for he certification to win a contract to supply Emirates Airlines, but was forced to avoid using it (and so lose the contract) by anti halal certification scumbags like you boycotting the product. Even so, the price per tub is extremely low — you'd have to eat an awful lot of it to pay even a cent more.

As for Christians in the Middle East, I doubt any of them would object to buying halal certified food.

Dear SteeleRedux,

Thank You for the information.

It clears up quite a few things for me.