The Commissioner for Animal Welfare, Alison Bezzina, said the certification of the abattoir for halal is not the real problem - the issue is the exaggerated consumption of meat.

In her statement, Commissioner Bezzina said that from an animal welfare standpoint, procedures have remained nearly identical through this certification, and that when it comes to animals, "Halal is not the problem - the real concern lies in our exaggerated and continued consumption of meat."

"Whilst I fully expect the meat industry to take issue with this point, the truth remains the truth, and I stand by it without hesitation," she said on the social media.

Malta's abattoir attained certification to produce Halal meat earlier this week. Announcing the certification, Animal Rights Minister Anton Refalo said this opens new horizons for the Maltese islands: namely, in better accommodating the local Muslim community, as well as in opening up its markets towards the Middle East and northern Africa. The Minister thanked the local Muslim community, the Abattoir's management, and the guild of sheep and goats in their involvement to obtain this certification.

Following the strong reactions sparked by this development, the Animal Welfare Commissioner released this statement on Thursday, observing that Malta's abattoir has been producing Halal meat since 2013, that no changes have been made to Halal slaughtering processes since 2013, and that "the only thing that changed is that this year the abattoir got certified as an official Halal meat producer. This certification will help penetrate new markets."

She noted that as an animal lover herself, and naturally, as someone against animal cruelty, this statement was difficult for her to write; however, she has called upon all animal lovers to read her statement and reflect on the facts, "for the sake of education and improving animal lives."

Bezzina clarified that Halal slaughtering involves stunning the animal unconscious, before then cutting a deep slit into its neck to drain out its blood; this draining process takes less than a minute and leads to the animal's death.

In contrast, conventional (non-Halal) slaughtering processes are nearly identical; after the animal is stunned, rather than cutting a deep slit into its neck, conventional methods drain the blood by conducting a single deep piercing into the main artery. This method also takes less than a minute and leads to the animal's death.

Hence, she stated that there are only two significant differences between Halal and non-Halal slaughter: Halal slaughtering is conducted by a religious qualified person, rather than by a slaughterhouse worker, and that the animal's blood is totally discarded (as part of the religious process) in Halal slaughter, unlike in conventional processes where the blood can be collected for use in other products.

Bezzina pointed out that according to meat producers worldwide, "it is not possible to produce good quality meat if the animal dies stressed or if the animal is not bled to death."

Concluding her statement, the Animal Welfare Commissioner pointed out that "from an animal welfare standpoint, the procedures are almost identical and have no impact on the animal's experience," before then noting that the "real concern" lies in our exaggerated consumption of meat, as mentioned above.