This is why Leeds Council serves Halal meat in schools and its official stunned meat policy
The Yorkshire Evening Post contacted the authority following a report from neighboruing Kirklees, in which Kirklees Council's leader defended the authority's policy of serving non-stunned Halal meat in its schools.
The row caused controversy in Kirklees after campaigners raised concerns with children being served Halal meat from non-stun sources. It led to the council leader accusing campaigners of causing 'racial hatred'.
What is Leeds Council's policy on Halal in schools?
Leeds Council does serve Halal meat in schools in Leeds.
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Hide AdBut the authority has confirmed that it does not use non-stun Halal meat.
This is the council's official Halal policy on school meals:
"Many schools across the city have a clear proportion of children who require a halal meal and we are happy to provide this.
"Any meals that include halal meat are clearly identified and are only offered to children who require one. There are schools in Leeds where all the meat is halal, due to the high demand in certain areas.
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Hide Ad"We train all out staff on the background to halal provision and why it is important to Muslims. Our high standards ensure that our halal meals contain only halal meat and halal suitable components and we have the utmost confidence in our sourcing and traceability of all our halal products.
"Our procedures for storage, preparation, cooking and serving halal meals are strictly adhered to so there is no possibility of cross contamination. In fact we regularly audit the premises and procedures of our suppliers to ensure they continue to meet our standards.
"Our meat supplier is HMC accredited and we are happy to provide HMC certification evidence. As with all of our meat, our halal meat is produced to UK Farm Assured standards. "
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Hide AdA spokesman told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "In regards to any Halal school meals provided by the council’s internal service provider, the meat products comes from animals that are stunned before they are killed."