Policy Documents
Species Specific Welfare Policies
Stunning Policy
Morrisons’ policy requires all meat in Morrisons-branded products to come from animals stunned in a way that renders them insensible to pain before slaughter. Morrisons aligns itself with the British Retail Consortium position that supermarkets sell only pre-stunned own-brand meat. Morrisons states that all it’s chicken is slaughtered by CAS (stun to kill).
Halal/Kosher in Store
Morrisons is one of the few national supermarkets that stocks external brands certified by the Halal Monitoring Committee (HMC), such as Shazans Select. Because HMC standards exclusively certify meat from animals that have not been stunned, these specific branded items represent a deliberate exception for consumers who explicitly seek non-stunned halal products. Morrisons also sell kosher meat in some stores. Both are labelled, but it would not be obvious that HMC certified products are non-stun.
Sourcing / Suppliers / Country of Origin
- Morrisons sources 100% British fresh beef, lamb, pork, chicken and turkey, processed mainly through its own abattoirs. The Species Specific Welfare Policies indicates that all meat is sourced directly from farmers.
- The abattoirs trading as Woodhead Bros. are halal certified which poses a high level of uncertainty with regard to religiously slaughtered meat and poultry being sold unlabelled as such (See Warnings below).
- Morrisons also sources lamb and beef from New Zealand and Australia. Both countries have a reputation for exporting meat slaughtered to halal standards without being labelled as such. Some frozen chicken and meat products might be imported.
Warnings
Morrisons has stated that no prayer or blessing is read at slaughter for its own-label meat and that customers wanting to avoid halal-blessed meat can rely on Morrisons-branded fresh meat with confidence. However, this statement has been undermined by the sale of New Zealand and Australian lamb and beef under the Morrison’s Market Street brand; meat from these countries is likely to be slaughtered to halal standards but not labelled as such. An administrator of one social media group questioned Morrison’s about this but, despite being promised a response, did not receive one.