German Politicians Campaign to Make Pork Mandatory in Public Canteens After Sausages and Bacon Were Removed ‘to Prevent Offending Muslims’
Sara Malm, Daily Mail, March 7, 2016
German politicians are campaigning to make pork mandatory in public canteens and schools, after reports that sausages, chops and bacon were disappearing from menus.
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Schleswig-Holstein claimed pork products were being removed from cafes, daycare centres and state schools across the state to ‘prevent offending Muslims’
The suggestion to force public schools and canteens to serve pork has subsequently been widely mocked on social media, using hashtags #porkduty and #wurstcasescenario.
The local arm of the CDU, the party of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, claimed pork was being banned for ‘religious reasons’ across the north German state.
‘The protection of minorities–including for religious reasons–must not mean that the majority is overruled in their free decision by ill-conceived consideration,’ said CDU’s Daniel Günther.
‘The consumption of pork belongs to our culture,’ Günther added, according to Deutsche Welle.
‘No one should be obliged to do so, but we also don’t want the majority having to refrain from pork.’
Günther later claimed in an interview with a local newspaper that ‘at least one nursery in every voting district’ in Schleswig-Holstein had stopped serving pork for religious reasons.
The news of the proposal by CDU in Schleswig-Holstein soon spread across Germany, and was met with mockery on social media.
Withing a few hours, the hashtag #schweinefleischpflicht–meaning ‘pork duty’–became Germany’s top trending hashtag on Twitter, with many joking that this was a #wurstcasescenario.
However, the plan to introduce mandatory pork in state canteens and schools was later rejected by the local government in Schleswig-Holstein.
‘I see no need for the state to act,’ state agriculture minister Robert Habeck said, according to The Local.
‘I don’t share the idea of abrogating our constitutional rights in favour of the duty to eat chops or mince,’ he added.
