Pupils at French school told: 'It's pork or no meat'

Pupils at French school told: 'It's pork or no meat'

Pupils at a school in France will no longer be given a substitute meat if they don't eat pork, as local authorities try to cut down on food waste and costs. Parents have complained about the measure.

From this month onwards the school in the village of Arveyres in the Gironde region of south-west France will no longer offer a meat alternative to those children who do not eat pork, which is forbidden under Jewish and Muslim dietary laws.

Around 30 of the 180 children used to be offered a substitute meat when pork was on the menu, France's TF1 television reports.

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“We are not asking for halal or kosher meat,” one mother told France blue radio. “We just want a meal with substitute protein.”

Certain parents had even offered to cook meals for the children and bring them to school but their offer was dismissed by the town's mayor because it would be "logistically hard to implement and ethically shocking".

http://www.thelocal.fr/page/view/its-pork-or-nothing-pupils-in-french-school-told#.UTeDTTei2So