Butterball: Why do you slaughter ALL whole turkeys according to Islamic law?

Butterball, what are you thinking?

Today I was stunned to learn Butterball slaughters ALL their turkeys according to Islamic religious law (halal).  All of them. 

This was brought to light by an anti-Islamist blogger, Pamela Geller.  who is always criticized and called an anti-Muslim hatemonger by the far-left and Muslims.  Remember Islamists and the far-left are often partners.  Also, remember not all Muslims are Islamists but that's beside the point.  Although Geller's style is, perhaps, too harsh at times for my taste, she is right to bring this to the public's attention.  I can't think of anyone outside of the Islamic faith who would want to eat a turkey slaughtered according to a faith that is not their own.  Over at far-left Mother Jones, Geller was raked over the coals and Islamists glady are tweeting a link to the story. 

Killing a turkey the Islamic way seems very crude. 

I decided to call Butterball today and I talked to a consumer rep by the name of Tracy.  She confirmed they kill ALL whole turkeys according to the Halal standard.  She also told me they say 3 words over the turkey but she wouldn't tell me what they were.  When I asked her specifically for what the three words are, she claimed she didn't know.  Since, they kill turkeys according to the religion of Islam those words are probably "Bismillah allahu akba."   According to the USDA,  "Halal" or "Zabiah Halal" meat must be handled according to Islamic law under Islamic authority.   This is the standard Butterball says they follow.  So if they are truly following this standard which they say they are then this means only a Muslim can do the slaughtering or else it isn't really halal. 

Butterball acknowledged they following the halal process on their Facebook page.  It that post is removed here is a pdf of it:  Download Www.facebook.com-Butterball-posts-10150382467209611

I posted a reasonable question on their facebook page but they keep removing it or people aren't allowed to post on their wall, I'm not sure:

screen shot:

It defies logic that Butterball would slaughter ALL turkeys according to the religious requirement of only one religion - Islam.  Muslims make up 1-2% of the population in America and strict Muslims would probably not observe Thanksgiving or Christmas when turkey is usually the main meat.  But, if thats their choice, they do have a duty to inform the public and stae this on their labeling.

Sadly, I'm going to have to boycott a product that was a staple in our household around the holidays for as long as I can remember because of the strong Islamic religious aspect to their slaughtering and their failure to properly inform consumers. They can produce all the halal meat they want BUT the public has a right to know it.

Feel free to write or call Butterball and let them know how you feel. 

Update 11/26/11:  Butterball appears to have removed most of the references to "halal" from their website.  Here is a screen shot (FB page) where they informed the public their turkeys are halal certified.  Now, the same page is minus the words "halal certified."  But, on the homepage "halal certified" is still seen, as of today Saturday at 1:55 PM CT.  Download Products.butterballcorp.com-intl (near the bottom).

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Also see:

One time conservative blog Little Green Footballs, now a totally far-left anti-conservative "hate" blog called Geller a "hateblogger" because she dared to bring this Islamic religious slaughering process to the public's attention.  He even included a very scary and unflattering picture of Geller.  Charles Johnson is someone I use read and admire but no more.