Is New Zealand meat sold in the UK actually halal?

Beef + Lamb New Zealand Inc is responsible for the promotion of beef and lamb within New Zealand and is jointly funded by farmers, New Zealand retailers and New Zealand processors. They say that;

Although a significant proportion of sheep and beef is slaughtered according to halal requirements, only a much smaller percentage is actually halal-certified and labeled. Halal audit, certification and labeling incur extra costs, so it is only done at the request of a customer or when it is a market access requirement overseas.

In the case of New Zealand supermarkets, the beef and lamb may be from animals that have been slaughtered in accordance with halal requirements — but that product is subsequently ‘contaminated’ by the addition of non-halal ingredients or proximity to non-halal goods such as pork. It therefore becomes re-designated as non-halal and cannot be labelled as halal in supermarkets.

It seems that for both local and international sales that unless the customer explicitly orders halal meat, the meat cannot be classified as halal, even though it was slaughtered as such, because throughtout the supply chain process it is not segregagted from meat such as pork and could have additional none halal ingredients added to it.

If halal meat is ordered than it is properly labelled to reflect this and it is properly maintained throughout the supply chain process.

So for all Muslims who are thinking about buying the New Zealand meat from the major supermarkets after what they read in the national press, we would advise against that.