Poland May Ban Export of Kosher Meat

By JTA May 26, 2015

Poland’s ombudsman has reiterated her request to the country’s Constitutional Tribunal to make kosher slaughter legal only for local consumption.

Irena Lipowicz filed her request last year with the tribunal, asking it to make kosher slaughter legal only for the use of the Jewish community in Poland.

“The ban on exports of meat from ritual slaughter will not be burdensome for us,” Leslaw Piszewski, chairman of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, told JTA on Tuesday. Only it may be difficult to accept for the meat producers. We are in solidarity with exporters of meat from ritual slaughter for a simple reason — in the case of an export ban they will suffer heavy losses.”

Ritual slaughter without stunning was banned in Poland starting Jan. 1, 2013, after the country’s constitutional court scrapped a government regulation that exempted Jews and Muslims from a law requiring the stunning of animals prior to slaughter. Jewish ritual slaughter, or shechita, as well as Muslim ritual slaughter, requires that animals be conscious before their necks are cut.

In December, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the ban was unconstitutional and legalized kosher slaughter for both the local Jewish community and also for export. In July 2013, a draft bill aimed at legalizing ritual slaughter failed to pass in the parliament.

The Constitutional Tribunal did not give a date for a hearing on Lipowicz’ request.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO