Christmas Tradition: Slaughtering Pigs in Romania

In the November 17th-23rd, 2007 issue of THE ECONOMIST arriving in my mailbox today, I read an article 'A Dissertation on Romanian Pork' in which the unnamed author reports on the conflict between tradition and food-safety:

During talks in Brussels last year, Romanians asked if Christmas pig-killing might enjoy the exemption given to Muslim and Jewish butchers. The commission said no.

The exemption would allow farmers to continue to slaughter their pigs in their own backyards without use of a required stunning device prior to cutting their throats.

According to THE ECONOMIST, the refusal to exempt on the grounds of 'religious rite' caused some offense as

officials in Bucharest say that Christmas pigs are killed around the feast of St. Ignatius, on December 20th.

The pigs to be slaughtered are often sprinkled with Holy Water. The adults watching the 'ceremony' will have fasted, and will not eat of foods made from the pigs until Christmas Eve. Children are sometimes given the day off from school, and are fed little bites of charred pig to cheer them up because often they are fond of the pig that was slaughtered.

Romania joined the European Union in January of this year. It wants to keep its Christmas traditions, and the European Union wants to keep "border-hopping diseases" under control.