Editing Beef (section)

==Restrictions==
=== Religious and cultural prohibitions ===
{{Main|Cattle in religion and mythology}}
[[File:Sacred cow2.jpg|upright=0.8|thumb|300px|A pamphlet against the practice of cow slaughter]]
Most Indic religions reject the killing and eating of cows. Hinduism prohibits cow beef known as ''Go-Maans'' in [[Hindi]]. Bovines have a sacred status in [[culture of India|India]] especially the cow, due to their provision of sustenance for families. Bovines are generally considered to be integral to the landscape. However, they do not consider the cow to be a god.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bankim Chandra Chatterji|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LE3VAAAAMAAJ|title=Letters on Hinduism|publisher=M.M. Bose|year=1940|pages=39}}</ref><!-- Pg. 39 "deny that she is worshipped" -->

Many of India's rural economies depend on cattle farming; hence they have been revered in society.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hinduism.about.com/od/vegetarianism/a/holycows.htm |title=Holy Cows: Hinduism's Blessed Bovines |publisher=Hinduism.about.com |access-date=2 March 2014 |archive-date=7 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407234815/http://hinduism.about.com/od/vegetarianism/a/holycows.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://thewire.in/120380/switzerland-cows-india/ |title=Switzerland loves its cows. But unlike India, there is no merging of the bovine and divine |publisher=The Wire |access-date=2 April 2017}}</ref> Since the [[Vedic period]], cattle, especially cows, were venerated as a source of milk, and dairy products, and their relative importance in transport services and farming like [[plough]]ing, row planting, ridging. Veneration grew with the advent of [[Jainism]] and the [[Gupta Empire|Gupta period]].<ref>{{cite book| last = Chatterjee| first = Suhas| title = Indian Civilization and Culture| publisher = M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd.| year = 1998| page = 232| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KItocaxbibUC| isbn = 978-81-7533-083-2}}</ref> In medieval India, [[Ranjit Singh|Maharaja Ranjit Singh]] issued a proclamation on stopping cow slaughter. Conflicts over cow slaughter often have sparked religious riots that have led to loss of human life and in one 1893 riot alone, more than 100 people were killed for the cause.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/the-cow-keepers-the-cattle-vigilante-groups-operating-in-delhi-and-neighbouring-states/|title=The cow keepers: Some cattle vigilante groups operating in Delhi and neighbouring states|date=11 October 2015}}</ref>

For religious reasons, the ancient Egyptian priests also refrained from consuming beef. Buddhists and Sikhs are also against wrongful slaughtering of animals, but they do not have a wrongful eating doctrine.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kenneth F. Kiple|title=A Movable Feast: Ten Millennia of Food Globalization|url=https://archive.org/details/movablefeasttenm00kipl_0|url-access=registration|date=30 April 2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-46354-6|pages=53+}}</ref>

In [[ancient China]], the killing of cattle and consumption of beef was prohibited, as they were valued for their role in [[agriculture]]. This custom is still followed by a few Chinese families across the world.<ref>Benn, Charles. (2002). ''China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-517665-0}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ile3jSveb4sC&q=diversity+diet+immortality p. 122]</ref>

During the season of [[Lent]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]] and [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] periodically give up meat and poultry (and sometimes dairy products and eggs) as a religious act. Observant [[Jews]]<ref>Maimonodies, Yad Hachazaka; Kedusha; Hilchos Shechita 1:1</ref> and [[Islam|Muslims]] may not eat any meat or poultry which has not been [[Ritual slaughter#Jewish and Islamic ritual slaughter|slaughtered and treated in conformance with religious laws]].

=== Legal prohibition ===

==== India ====
{{Main|Cattle slaughter in India}}
Most of the [[states of India|North Indian states]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-no-beef-nation/ |title=The states where cow slaughter is legal in India|date=8 October 2015|work=Indian Express}}</ref> prohibit the killing of cow and consumption of beef for religious reasons.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/280517/milking-beef-issue-could-tear-social-fabric.html|title=Milking beef issue could tear social fabric|work=Deccan Chronicle|date=28 May 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/05/muslim-man-dies-in-india-after-attack-by-hindu-cow-protectors|title=Muslim man dies in India after attack by Hindu 'cow protectors'|first=Michael|last=Safi|date=5 April 2017|work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37336050|title=Women raped in fatal attack over beef|date=12 September 2016|work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/protests-against-the-governments-anti-beef-laws-spread-in-india/2017/06/05/8aa05dfc-489e-11e7-bcde-624ad94170ab_story.html|title=To protest Modi, these Indians are cooking beef in public|first=Vidhi|last=Doshi|date=6 June 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/business/farming/beef/holy-cow-worlds-2ndlargest-beef-exporter-may-ban-cattle-slaughter-35782142.html|title=Holy cow: World's 2nd-largest beef exporter may ban cattle slaughter|date=2 June 2017|work=independent.ie}}</ref> Certain Hindu castes and sects continue to avoid beef from their [[Diet (nutrition)|diets]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-holiness-of-the-cow-and-controversy-over-beef-eating-in-ancient-india/|title=Explained: Holiness of the Cow and Controversy Over Beef-Eating In Ancient India|date=8 June 2015|work=Indian Express}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2001/08/14/stories/13140833.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017114253/http://www.thehindu.com/2001/08/14/stories/13140833.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 October 2015|website=[[The Hindu]]|date=14 August 2001|title=Beef eating: strangulating history}}</ref> Article 48 of the [[Constitution of India]] mandates the state may take steps for preserving and improving the bovine breeds, and prohibit the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle. [[Article 47 of the Constitution of India]] provides states must raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health as among its primary duties, based on this a reasonableness in slaughter of common cattle was instituted, if the animals ceased to be capable of breeding, providing milk, or serving as draught animals. The overall mismanagement of India's common cattle is dubbed in academic fields as  "India's bovine burden."<ref>{{cite book|author=John R. K. Robson|title=Food, Ecology, and Culture: Readings in the Anthropology of Dietary Practices|year=1980|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-677-16090-0|page=126}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/63522f50-caf3-11e7-ab18-7a9fb7d6163e |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/63522f50-caf3-11e7-ab18-7a9fb7d6163e |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription|title=Modi's India: the high cost of protecting holy cows|last=Kazmin|first=Amy|date=21 November 2017|website=Financial Times|language=en-GB|access-date=5 August 2018}}</ref> 

In 2017, a rule against the slaughter of cattle and the eating of beef was signed into law by presidential assent as a modified version of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. The original act, however, did permit the humane slaughter of animals for use as food.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Prashad|first1=Vijay|title= A political stampede over India's sacred cow|url= http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jun/12/india-hindu-radicals-attack-cattle-commerce/|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=4 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/beef-ban-and-bloodshed/1/493111.html|title=Beef, ban and bloodshed|date=7 October 2015|website=India Today}}</ref> Existing meat export policy in India prohibits the export of beef (meat of cow, oxen and calf). Bone-in meat, a carcass, or half carcass of buffalo is also prohibited from export. Only the boneless meat of buffalo, meat of goat and sheep and birds is permitted for export.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-buffalo-meat-exports-at-over-rs-21k-cr-in-10-mths-in-fy-17-2370398|title=Buffalo meat exports at over Rs 21K cr in 10 mths in FY'17|date=27 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/nirmala-slams-akhilesh-says-beef-exports-already-banned/story-HJmt5FHec9BS2XLti7lQXO.html|title=Nirmala slams Akhilesh, says beef exports already banned|date=2 October 2015}}</ref> In 2017, India sought a total "beef ban" and Australian market analysts predicted that this would create market opportunities for leather traders and meat producers there and elsewhere. Their prediction estimated a twenty percent shortage of beef and a thirteen percent shortage of leather in the world market.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2017-05-30/indian-government-bans-sale-of-cattle-for-slaughter/8572964|title=World's second-largest beef exporter bans sale of slaughter cattle|first=Warwick|last=Long|newspaper=ABC News|date=30 May 2017}}</ref>

==== Nepal ====

The cow is the national animal of Nepal, and slaughter of cattle is prohibited by law.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nepal declares Cow as its National animal|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/nepal-national-animal-264268-2015-09-22|date=22 September 2015|website=IndiaToday}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Law banning cow slaughter infringe Indigenous Peoples' rights in Nepal|url=https://www.indigenousvoice.com/en/law-banning-cow-slaughter-infringe-indigenous-peoples-rights-in-nepal.html|date=20 March 2015|website=Indigenous Voice|access-date=4 October 2020|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204033535/https://www.indigenousvoice.com/en/law-banning-cow-slaughter-infringe-indigenous-peoples-rights-in-nepal.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==== Cuba ====
In 2003, Cuba banned cow slaughter due to severe shortage of milk and milk products.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140331031311/http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2003-09-13/news/27533499_1_cow-slaughter-cuba-cattle Cuba bans cow slaughter]. Articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com (13 September 2003). Retrieved on 19 December 2016.</ref> On 14 April 2021, the ban was loosened, allowing ranchers to do as they wish as long as state quotas were met and the health of the herd could be ensured.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Frank |first=Marc |date=14 April 2021 |title=Cuba loosens regulations on killing cows and selling beef |url=https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/cuba-loosens-regulations-on-killing-cows-and-selling-beef-2021-04-14 |access-date=21 September 2022 |website=Nasdaq}}</ref>