Goat Farmer Follows Islamic Law to Satisfy Muslim Consumers

Source: The Boston Globe

On June 3, 2001, The Boston Globe reported on Dave Bernier, a farmer in the Berkshires. "His goats, in accordance with Muslim religious law, pass their days withoutstress, feeding on grass, and when the time comes to slaughter them, Berniersometimes accompanies them to the slaughterhouse to keep watch while Allah'sname is pronounced and the animals' jugular veins are cut...his new habits are guided by business sense: At the endof the day, he's working for the imam." Bernier is one of 65 farmers who met in Blandford "to explore a marketthat has boomed along with the influx of immigrants to the Northeast. Recentarrivals from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and a variety of Muslimcountries that prize goat meat have made it the only red meat growingrapidly in popularity."