“Controversy Erupts Over Halal Menu in French Middle School Canteen”

The controversial menu is a mini cheese roll, sautéed halal beef, cauliflower, cheese and fruit, the only dish served in the canteen, this Monday, May 22, 2023, reports Le Figaro. Alerted by the father of one of the students of the Émile Combes college in Bordeaux, Virginie Tournay, spokesperson for the Vigilant Parents, movement, launched by Reconquest! in September 2022 in Gironde, cries out in indignation: “What shocks is that we flout the principle of secularism and that it is assumed”. According to her, “we give in to community pressure that targets our children because they are malleable. »

To read: France: the decision of the Council of State on the mandatory labeling of halal and kosher meat

“We teach them a politicized way of living and seeing society when the college should be a bulwark against adult problems”, she insists, stressing also that the confessional technique (the slaughter of animals without prior stunning) “entails health risks”. “The height is that it takes place in a school that bears the name of a politician who fought for the adoption of the law of 1905 (separating the Church and the State, editor’s note)” , argues Tournay.

Read: Spain: parents of Moroccan students complain about Halal served at school

Reacting to the controversy, the Gironde department deplored “a communication error in the Pronote software”. He claims not to have imposed the halal menu on all college students. On Monday, “chicken aiguillettes” were offered to Émile Combes’ Bordeaux middle school students. The law, which neither prohibits nor obliges schools to serve dishes of a religious nature, requires, however, that the practice be accompanied by an alternative.