When the mind is clouded by ignorance, we act out of line. A clouded mind mistakes a rope for a snake. Slow down, think clearly, and the snake disappears; because it was always just a rope.
You’re probably thinking, OK, but what does this have to do with animal welfare?
Everything.
The modern meat industry is built on one unavoidable act: cutting the throat and bleeding the animal out. Strip away the comforting language, the labels, the welfare logos, and that’s the reality. Conventional, halal, stunned, non-stunned; different narratives, same ending. The rope keeps getting mistaken for a snake.
In conventional slaughter, animals are stunned first. Electrical or captive bolt, reversible or irreversible; the industry gives consumers options to feel reassured. But the process doesn’t end there. The throat is then cut, and the animal is left to bleed out. That final step is mandatory. No bleed-out, no meat.
Halal follows the same physical process. In the UK, much halal meat comes from animals that are weakly stunned beforehand using the very same methods and equipment as non-halal slaughter. Same lines, same workers, same knives, same outcome. The only meaningful distinction is ritual wording; not animal experience.
So what’s the difference?
Nothing.
Except when you look at Jhatka.
Jhatka does not rely on bleeding an animal to death. It does not depend on reversible stunning or prolonged loss of consciousness while the body shuts down. It is built on one principle only: always-irreversible stunning, followed by immediate decapitation. One strike. One instant. No recovery, no throat-slitting, no drawn-out biological shutdown.
A guillotine does not negotiate with consciousness. It does not “allow time”. It does not rely on probability or precision after the fact. The animal is rendered dead instantly. The nervous system is destroyed in a fraction of a second. That is not marketing; that is physiology.
If we are honest about animal welfare, this is where the conversation should end.
Everything else; conventional, halal, ritual or non-ritual, shares the same dependency: the animal must bleed out after its throat is cut. Different labels, identical mechanics. The industry argues over wording while repeating the same act millions of times a day.
Jhatka stands apart because it removes the ambiguity. No reversible stun. No question of consciousness. No prolonged death. Just instant, irreversible cessation.
If animal welfare is truly the concern, then the humane standard is obvious.
Otherwise, what’s the difference?
Nothing.
Jhatka means “instant” in the Punjabi language. It refers to ethically slaughtered meat and never involves slitting the throat. Once you get past the ignorance around it, you’ll realise this is the gold standard of animal welfare, as the method is always irreversible and never low-strength. If you can learn words like halal and kosher, you can certainly learn the word Jhatka (pronounced “chat + car”).