The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry ) handles the slaughtering , processing , packaging , and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle , pigs , sheep and other livestock . Poultry is generally not included. This greater part of the entire meat industry is primarily focused on producing meat for human consumption , but it also yields a variety of by-products including hides , dried blood, protein meals such as meat & bone meal , and, through the process of rendering , fats (such as tallow ).
79-452: The Patea Freezing Works was a meat-processing plant promoted by The Patea A&P Association in the town of Patea . The West Coast Meat and Produce Export Company was formed in August 1883 and operated a tinning plant and tallow factory in the area. Changes in technology saw the company change from canning to freezing in 1904. The Patea Freezing Company came into being in 1910. In 1933,
158-647: A few decades workers achieved blue-collar , middle-class lives from it. Though the meat-packing industry has made many improvements since the early 1900s, extensive changes in the industry since the late 20th century have caused new labor issues to arise. Today, the rate of injury in the meat-packing industry is three times that of the private industry overall, and meat-packing was noted by Human Rights Watch as being "the most dangerous factory job in America". The meatpacking industry continues to employ many immigrant laborers, including some who are undocumented workers . In
237-684: A fictionalized account of unsanitary conditions in slaughterhouses and the meatpacking industry during the 1800s. This led directly to an investigation commissioned directly by President Theodore Roosevelt , and to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which established the Food and Drug Administration . A much larger body of regulation deals with the public health and worker safety regulation and inspection. In 1997, Gail Eisnitz, chief investigator for
316-559: A finger or limb per month. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported that over a period of six years in the UK , 78 slaughter workers lost fingers, parts of fingers or limbs, more than 800 workers had serious injuries, and at least 4,500 had to take more than three days off after accidents. In a 2018 study in the Italian Journal of Food Safety, slaughterhouse workers are instructed to wear ear protectors to protect their hearing from
395-413: A hog in the chute that's had the shit prodded out of him and has a heart attack or refuses to move, you take a meat hook and hook it into his bunghole . You try to do this by clipping the hipbone . Then you drag him backwards. You're dragging these hogs alive, and a lot of times the meat hook rips out of the bunghole. I've seen hams – thighs – completely ripped open. I've also seen intestines come out. If
474-661: A hog in the eye that's walking around in the blood pit with you and think, "God, that really isn't a bad looking animal." You may want to pet it. Pigs down on the kill floor have come up to nuzzle me like a puppy. Two minutes later I had to kill them – beat them to death with a pipe. I can't care. Slaughterhouse workers have a higher prevalence rate of mental health distress, including anxiety , detachment, depression , emotional numbing , perpetrator trauma , psychosocial distress , and PTSD , violence-supportive attitudes, and an increased crime levels. Slaughterhouse workers have adaptive and maladaptive strategies to cope with
553-429: A hog in the eye that's walking around in the blood pit with you and think, 'God, that really isn't a bad-looking animal.' You may want to pet it. Pigs down on the kill floor have come up to nuzzle me like a puppy. Two minutes later I had to kill them—beat them to death with a pipe. I can't care. The act of slaughtering animals or of raising or transporting animals for slaughter may engender psychological stress or trauma in
632-599: A new Patea Freezing Company was formed and at times provided work for nearly 1000 workers during peak season. However, the company suffered badly during the downturn in the New Zealand meat-processing industry in the early 1980s. The Patea works were among the first to close down, ending operations in September 1982. At the time The Patea Freezing Works was owned by the British Vestey Group . Since
711-520: A new cattle-market was constructed in Copenhagen Fields, Islington . The new Metropolitan Cattle Market was also opened in 1855, and West Smithfield was left as waste ground for about a decade, until the construction of the new market began in the 1860s under the authority of the 1860 Metropolitan Meat and Poultry Market Act. The market was designed by architect Sir Horace Jones and was completed in 1868. A cut and cover railway tunnel
790-643: A scarce commodity. Medical historian Benjamin Prinz has therefore pointed to the fragility of today's healthcare systems, which themselves participate in environmentally destructive and disease-causing production chains. Contemporary concerns about the meat industry within the American context have often been colored by the COVID-19 Pandemic and the resulting supply chain issues. Beyond the consumer perspective, workers were expected to drastically increase
869-457: A slaughterhouse into a single file ready for slaughter. Her corrals employ long sweeping curves so that each animal is prevented from seeing what lies ahead and just concentrates on the hind quarters of the animal in front of it. This design – along with the design elements of solid sides, solid crowd gate, and reduced noise at the end point – work together to encourage animals forward in the chute and to not reverse direction. Beginning in 2008
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#1732787273083948-500: A small ration of meat for urban citizens only to the world's largest meat producer; it was a movement from a handful of processing facilities in major cities to thousands of modern meat-packing and processing plants throughout the country, alongside the rapid growth of a middle-class with spending money. In the early 20th century, meatpacking companies employed new immigrants as strikebreakers during labor actions initiated by existing workers, who were often earlier immigrants themselves or
1027-423: A stunning device by a trained person before being hoisted up on the line. There is some debate over the enforcement of this act. This act, like those in many countries, exempts slaughter in accordance to religious law, such as kosher shechita and dhabiha halal . Most strict interpretations of kashrut require that the animal be fully sensible when its carotid artery is cut. The novel The Jungle presented
1106-418: Is also a matter of some consideration. Frequently, animal rights groups raise concerns about the methods of transport to and from slaughterhouses, preparation prior to slaughter, animal herding, stunning methods, and the killing itself. Until modern times, the slaughter of animals generally took place in a haphazard and unregulated manner in diverse places. Early maps of London show numerous stockyards in
1185-542: Is done at a butchery or other meat preparation facility. The standards and regulations governing slaughterhouses vary considerably around the world. In many countries the slaughter of animals is regulated by custom and tradition rather than by law. In the non-Western world, including the Arab world , the Indian sub-continent , etc., both forms of meat are available: one which is produced in modern mechanized slaughterhouses, and
1264-519: Is impossible. American slaughterhouse workers are three times more likely to suffer serious injury than the average American worker. NPR reports that pig and cattle slaughterhouse workers are nearly seven times more likely to suffer repetitive strain injuries than average. The Guardian reports that on average there are two amputations a week involving slaughterhouse workers in the United States. On average, one employee of Tyson Foods ,
1343-603: Is still a sensitive issue. Because of this, even the Japanese word for "slaughter" (屠殺 tosatsu ) is deemed politically incorrect by some pressure groups as its inclusion of the kanji for "kill" (殺) supposedly portrays those who practise it in a negative manner. Some countries have laws that exclude specific animal species or grades of animal from being slaughtered for human consumption, especially those that are taboo food . The former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee suggested in 2004 introducing legislation banning
1422-476: Is that the pharmaceutical industry obtains basic materials for its products from the meat-packing industry; for example, tissue extracts from slaughterhouse waste. In the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, this led to the paradoxical situation that mass slaughterhouses were infection drivers due to the bad labor conditions and at the same time suppliers of important therapeutics such as heparin , which subsequently became
1501-412: Is where animals are slaughtered that are not fit for human consumption or that can no longer work on a farm, such as retired work horses . Slaughtering animals on a large scale poses significant issues in terms of logistics, animal welfare , and the environment, and the process must meet public health requirements. Due to public aversion in different cultures, determining where to build slaughterhouses
1580-964: The Federal Trade Commission investigated the country's meatpackers for anti-competitive practices in the first decade of the 1900s. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was the first of a series of legislation that led to the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Another such act passed the same year was the Federal Meat Inspection Act . The new laws helped the large packers, and hurt small operations that lacked economy of scale or quality controls. Historian William Cronon concludes: The industry after 1945 closed its stockyards in big cities like Chicago and moved operations to small towns close to cattle ranches, especially in Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado. Historically, besides Cincinnati, Chicago and Omaha,
1659-516: The U.S. Congress led to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act (both passed in 1906 on the same day) to ensure better regulations of the meat-packing industry. In the 1920s and early 1930s, workers achieved unionization under the CIO 's United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA). An interracial committee led the organizing in Chicago , where the majority of workers in
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#17327872730831738-459: The guilds were curtailed. As the meat requirements of the growing number of residents in London steadily expanded, the meat markets both within the city and beyond attracted increasing levels of public disapproval. Meat had been traded at Smithfield Market as early as the 10th century. By 1726, it was regarded as "without question, the greatest in the world", by Daniel Defoe . By the middle of
1817-436: The meat industry , a slaughterhouse , also called an abattoir ( / ˈ æ b ə t w ɑːr / ), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a meat-packing facility . Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is not intended for human consumption are sometimes referred to as knacker's yards or knackeries . This
1896-713: The meat packing industry : "according to some, animal slaughtering became the first mass-production industry in the United States." This expansion has been accompanied by increased concern about the physical and mental conditions of the workers along with controversy over the ethical and environmental implications of slaughtering animals for meat. The Edinburgh abattoir, which was built in 1910, had well lit laboratories, hot and cold water, gas, microscopes and equipment for cultivating organisms. The English 1924 Public Health (Meat) Regulations required notification of slaughter to enable inspection of carcasses and enabled inspected carcasses to be marked. The development of slaughterhouses
1975-518: The "morally dangerous" task of putting animals to death. As a result of this tension, meat markets within the city were closed and abattoirs built outside city limits. An early framework for the establishment of public slaughterhouses was put in place in Paris in 1810, under the reign of the Emperor Napoleon . Five areas were set aside on the outskirts of the city and the feudal privileges of
2054-481: The 1980s, Cargill , Conagra Brands , Tyson Foods and other large food companies moved most slaughterhouse operations to rural areas of the Southern United States which were more hostile to unionization efforts. Slaughterhouses in the United States commonly illegally employ and exploit underage workers and undocumented immigrants. In 2010, Human Rights Watch described slaughterhouse line work in
2133-444: The 19th century, in the course of a single year 220,000 head of cattle and 1,500,000 sheep would be "violently forced into an area of five acres, in the very heart of London, through its narrowest and most crowded thoroughfares". By the early 19th century, pamphlets were being circulated arguing in favor of the removal of the livestock market and its relocation outside of the city due to the extremely low hygienic conditions as well as
2212-629: The Argentine industry finally secured a large slice of the British market, Pateros and trade restrictions limited its penetration of the Continent. Meat in China moved from a minor specialty commodity to a major factor in the food supply in the late 20th century thanks to the rapid emergence of a middle class with upscale tastes and plenty of money. It was a transition from a country able to provide
2291-678: The Humane Farming Association (HFA), released the book Slaughterhouse . It includes interviews of slaughterhouse workers in the U.S. who say that, because of the speed with which they are required to work, animals are routinely skinned while apparently alive and still blinking, kicking and shrieking. Eisnitz argues that this is not only cruel to the animals but also dangerous for the human workers, as cows weighing several thousands of pounds thrashing around in pain are likely to kick out and debilitate anyone working near them. This would imply that certain slaughterhouses throughout
2370-698: The Local Infrastructure for Local Agriculture, a non-profit committed to revitalizing opportunities for "small farmers and strengthening the connection between local supply and demand", constructed a mobile slaughterhouse facility in efforts for small farmers to process meat quickly and cost effectively. Named the Modular Harvest System, or M.H.S., it received USDA approval in 2010. The M.H.S. consists of three separate trailers: One for slaughtering, one for consumable body parts, and one for other body parts. Preparation of individual cuts
2449-483: The Model Abattoir Society in 1882 to investigate and campaign for humane methods of slaughter. The invention of refrigeration and the expansion of transportation networks by sea and rail allowed for the safe exportation of meat around the world. Additionally, meat-packing millionaire Philip Danforth Armour 's invention of the "disassembly line" greatly increased the productivity and profit margin of
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2528-475: The PTSD Journal explain, "These employees are hired to kill animals, such as pigs and cows that are largely gentle creatures. Carrying out this action requires workers to disconnect from what they are doing and from the creature standing before them. This emotional dissonance can lead to consequences such as domestic violence, social withdrawal, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse, and PTSD". Slaughterhouses in
2607-407: The PTSD Journal explain, "These employees are hired to kill animals, such as pigs and cows that are largely gentle creatures. Carrying out this action requires workers to disconnect from what they are doing and from the creature standing before them. This emotional dissonance can lead to consequences such as domestic violence, social withdrawal, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse, and PTSD." Starting in
2686-499: The United States as a human rights crime. In a report by Oxfam America , slaughterhouse workers were observed not being allowed breaks, were often required to wear diapers, and were paid below minimum wage. Meat packing industry In the United States and some other countries, the facility where the meat packing is done is called a slaughterhouse , packinghouse or a meat-packing plant ; in New Zealand , where most of
2765-411: The United States commonly illegally employ and exploit underage workers and illegal immigrants. In 2010, Human Rights Watch described slaughterhouse line work in the United States as a human rights crime. In a report by Oxfam America , slaughterhouse workers were observed not being allowed breaks, were often required to wear diapers, and were paid below minimum wage. Another problem in this context
2844-593: The United States, may legally operate under USDA exemptions not available to red meat processors. Several MPPUs have been in operation since before 2010, under various models of operation and ownership. Most countries have laws in regard to the treatment of animals in slaughterhouses. In the United States , there is the Humane Slaughter Act of 1958, a law requiring that all swine, sheep, cattle, and horses be stunned unconscious with application of
2923-400: The amount of contaminated droplets in the air. More than 50,000 meat packing workers contracted the disease and over 200 died. Disease is not evenly distributed throughout factories and all workers in a given factory are not at equal risk for exposure and negative health outcomes despite working the same job. In particular, the overlap of immigration status and workplace exposures can result in
3002-584: The animals. The eminent physician, Benjamin Ward Richardson , spent many years in developing more humane methods of slaughter. He brought into use no fewer than fourteen possible anesthetics for use in the slaughterhouse and even experimented with the use of electric current at the Royal Polytechnic Institution . As early as 1853, he designed a lethal chamber that would gas animals to death relatively painlessly , and he founded
3081-541: The appointment of slaughterhouse inspectors and the establishment of centralised abattoirs took place much earlier in the British colonies, such as the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria, and in Scotland where 80% of cattle were slaughtered in public abattoirs by 1930. In Victoria the Melbourne Abattoirs Act 1850 (NSW) "confined the slaughtering of animals to prescribed public abattoirs, while at
3160-409: The average American worker. NPR reports that pig and cattle slaughterhouse workers are nearly seven times more likely to suffer repetitive strain injuries than average. The Guardian reports that on average there are two amputations a week involving slaughterhouse workers in the United States . On average, one employee of Tyson Foods , the largest meat producer in America, is injured and amputates
3239-458: The brutal treatment of the cattle. In 1843, the Farmer's Magazine published a petition signed by bankers, salesmen, aldermen, butchers and local residents against the expansion of the livestock market. The Town Police Clauses Act 1847 created a licensing and registration system, though few slaughter houses were closed. An Act of Parliament was eventually passed in 1852. Under its provisions,
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3318-459: The closure the site had fallen derelict. Residents regarded the area as a health hazard and blamed its high visibility from the highway as being partly responsible for a decline in property values over the years. "The works has been a thorn in everyone's side for 25 years. This eyesore is our identity, it's Taranaki 's eastern gateway and it's absolutely shocking what's been allowed to happen there." said former Patea Mayor Norm McKay, who worked at
3397-426: The concept of the slaughterhouse as a freezing works. Prior to this, canning was an option. Freezing works are common in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. In countries where meat is exported for a substantial profit the freezing works were built near docks, or near transport infrastructure. Mobile poultry processing units (MPPUs) follow the same principles, but typically require only one trailer and, in much of
3476-410: The concerns raised regarding hygiene and disease, there were also criticisms of the practice on the grounds that the effect that killing had, both on the butchers and the observers, "educate[d] the men in the practice of violence and cruelty, so that they seem to have no restraint on the use of it." An additional motivation for eliminating private slaughter was to impose a careful system of regulation for
3555-560: The constant screams of animals being killed. A 2004 study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that "excess risks were observed for mortality from all causes, all cancers, and lung cancer" in workers employed in the New Zealand meat processing industry. The worst thing, worse than the physical danger, is the emotional toll. If you work in the stick pit [where hogs are killed] for any period of time—that lets [sic] you kill things but doesn't let you care. You may look
3634-595: The contract to demolish and clear the Patea Freezing works site. Nikau Contractors was chosen from eight companies that tendered to do the work. The chimney, which wasn't the original freezing works chimney, was toppled on 19 February 2010. This was despite support from local Iwi, and the South Taranaki Mayor Ross Dunlop , to explore the possibility of preserving the chimney as a monument. Such preservation had not been budgeted for in
3713-662: The country are not following the guidelines and regulations spelled out by the Humane Slaughter Act , requiring all animals to be put down and thus insusceptible to pain by some form, typically electronarcosis, before undergoing any form of violent action. According to the HFA, Eiznitz interviewed slaughterhouse workers representing over two million hours of experience, who, without exception, told her that they have beaten, strangled, boiled and dismembered animals alive or have failed to report those who do. The workers described
3792-645: The early 20th century the workers were immigrants from eastern and southern Europe and black migrants from the South. Today, many meatpacking workers are Hispanics hailing from Mexico, Central and South America. A notable amount of workers are from Peru, leading to the formation of a large Peruvian community in the industry. The isolated areas in which many plants are located put these workers at greater risk due to their limited ability to organize and seek redress for work-related injuries. American slaughterhouse workers are three times more likely to suffer serious injury than
3871-487: The effects the violence has had on their personal lives, with several admitting to being physically abusive or taking to alcohol and other drugs. The HFA alleges that workers are required to kill up to 1,100 hogs an hour and end up taking their frustration out on the animals. Eisnitz interviewed one worker, who had worked in ten slaughterhouses, about pig production. He told her: Hogs get stressed out pretty easy. If you prod them too much, they have heart attacks. If you get
3950-618: The freezing works for 29 years. Parts of the site were owned by the South Taranaki District Council and Escada Enterprises of Sydney , Australia The site was riddled with Asbestos cladding and insulation, chemicals, heavy metals, boiler ash dumps, rusting fuel storage tanks and collapsing structures. On Wednesday 6 February 2008 a large part of the Patea Freezing Works was destroyed by fire. During August 2009 Nikau Contractors were awarded
4029-430: The hog collapses near the front of the chute, you shove the meat hook into his cheek and drag him forward. Animal rights activists , anti-speciesists , vegetarians and vegans are prominent critics of slaughterhouses and have created events such as the march to close all slaughterhouses to voice concerns about the conditions in slaughterhouses and ask for their abolition. Some have argued that humane animal slaughter
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#17327872730834108-653: The immediate descendants of immigrants. The publication of the Upton Sinclair novel The Jungle in the U.S. in 1906 shocked the public with the poor working conditions and unsanitary practices in the meat-packing plants in the United States, specifically Chicago . Meat-packing plants, like many industries in the early 20th century, overworked their employees, failed to maintain adequate safety measures, and actively fought unionization. Meat-packing workers were exposed to dangerous chemicals and sharp machinery, and routinely suffered horrible injuries. Public pressure of
4187-484: The industry were black, and other major cities, such as Omaha, Nebraska , where they were an important minority in the industry. UPWA workers made important gains in wages, hours and benefits. In 1957, the stockyards and meat-packing plants employed half the workers of Omaha. The union supported a progressive agenda, including the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. While the work was still difficult, for
4266-510: The largest meat producer in America, is injured and amputates a finger or limb per month. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported that over a period of six years, in the UK 78 slaughter workers lost fingers, parts of fingers or limbs, more than 800 workers had serious injuries, and at least 4,500 had to take more than three days off after accidents. In a 2018 study in the Italian Journal of Food Safety, slaughterhouse workers are instructed to wear ear protectors to protect their hearing from
4345-416: The latter part of the 20th century, the layout and design of most U.S. slaughterhouses was influenced by the work of Temple Grandin . She suggested that reducing the stress of animals being led to slaughter may help slaughterhouse operators improve efficiency and profit. In particular she applied an understanding of animal psychology to design pens and corrals which funnel a herd of animals arriving at
4424-558: The loud noises in the facility. A 2004 study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that "excess risks were observed for mortality from all causes, all cancers, and lung cancer" in workers employed in the New Zealand meat processing industry. The worst thing, worse than the physical danger, is the emotional toll. If you work in the stick pit [where hogs are killed] for any period of time – that lets you kill things but doesn't let you care. You may look
4503-563: The national regulations. In some societies, traditional cultural and religious aversion to slaughter led to prejudice against the people involved. In Japan , where the ban on slaughter of livestock for food was lifted in the late 19th century, the newly found slaughter industry drew workers primarily from villages of burakumin , who traditionally worked in occupations relating to death (such as executioners and undertakers). In some parts of western Japan , prejudice faced by current and former residents of such areas ( burakumin "hamlet people")
4582-426: The number of jobs fell sharply due to technology and other changes. Wages fell during the latter part of the 20th century, and eventually, both Chicago (in 1971) and Omaha (in 1999) closed their stockyards. The workforce increasingly relied on recent migrants from Mexico. Argentina had the natural resources and human talent to build a world-class meat-packing industry. However, its success in reaching European markets
4661-607: The operating area of blood and offal. Veterinary scientists, notably George Fleming and John Gamgee, campaigned for stringent levels of inspection to ensure that epizootics such as rinderpest (a devastating outbreak of the disease covered all of Britain in 1865) would not be able to spread. By 1874, three meat inspectors were appointed for the London area, and the Public Health Act 1875 required local authorities to provide central slaughterhouses (they were only given powers to close unsanitary slaughterhouses in 1890). Yet
4740-465: The orders of Napoleon III at the Parc de la Villette and heavily influenced the subsequent development of the institution throughout Europe. These slaughterhouses were regulated by law to ensure good standards of hygiene, the prevention of the spread of disease and the minimization of needless animal cruelty. The slaughterhouse had to be equipped with a specialized water supply system to effectively clean
4819-616: The other from local butcher shops. In some communities animal slaughter and permitted species may be controlled by religious laws , most notably halal for Muslims and kashrut for Jewish communities. This can cause conflicts with national regulations when a slaughterhouse adhering to the rules of religious preparation is located in some Western countries . In Jewish law, captive bolts and other methods of pre-slaughter paralysis are generally not permissible, due to it being forbidden for an animal to be stunned prior to slaughter. Various halal food authorities have more recently permitted
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#17327872730834898-552: The other major meat-packing cities had been South St. Paul, Minnesota ; East St. Louis, Illinois ; Dubuque, Iowa ; Kansas City, Missouri ; Austin, Minnesota ; Sioux Falls, South Dakota ; and Sioux City, Iowa . Mid-century restructuring by the industry of the stockyards, slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants led to relocating facilities closer to cattle feedlots and swine production facilities, to more rural areas, as transportation shifted from rail to truck. It has been difficult for labor to organize in such locations. In addition,
4977-620: The people involved. A 2016 study in Organization indicates, "Regression analyses of data from 10,605 Danish workers across 44 occupations suggest that slaughterhouse workers consistently experience lower physical and psychological well-being along with increased incidences of negative coping behavior". A 2009 study by criminologist Amy Fitzgerald indicates, "slaughterhouse employment increases total arrest rates, arrests for violent crimes, arrests for rape, and arrests for other sex offenses in comparison with other industries". As authors from
5056-414: The periphery of the city, where slaughter occurred in the open air or under cover such as wet markets . A term for such open-air slaughterhouses was shambles , and there are streets named " The Shambles " in some English and Irish towns (e.g., Worcester , York , Bandon ) which got their name from having been the site on which butchers killed and prepared animals for consumption. Fishamble Street , Dublin
5135-483: The products are exported, it is called a freezing works . An abattoir is a place where animals are slaughtered for food. The meat-packing industry grew with the construction of railroads and methods of refrigeration for meat preservation . Railroads made possible the transport of stock to central points for processing, and the transport of products. Before the American Civil War , the meat industry
5214-471: The rate at which they process animals. For instance, workers were expected to process 175 birds per minute up from 140 birds per minute. In part this was due to shortages of workers. Workers within the industry were often in the news for large outbreaks within factories. By its nature meat processing requires close proximity to other workers and exposure to a slew of bacteria and viruses. Additionally, workers often have to yell over loud machinery which increases
5293-529: The same time prohibiting the killing of sheep, lamb, pigs or goats at any other place within the city limits". Animals were shipped alive to British ports from Ireland, from Europe and from the colonies and slaughtered in large abattoirs at the ports. Conditions were often very poor. Attempts were also made throughout the British Empire to reform the practice of slaughter itself, as the methods used came under increasing criticism for causing undue pain to
5372-464: The site cleanup and would likely have ended up being paid for by local ratepayers. Video of the toppling of the chimney is available on YouTube. A link is provided in the External links section below. Demolition was completed in mid 2010. 39°45′40″S 174°29′11″E / 39.7612°S 174.4863°E / -39.7612; 174.4863 Abattoir In livestock agriculture and
5451-404: The slaughter of cows throughout India , as Hinduism holds cows as sacred and considers their slaughter unthinkable and offensive. This was often opposed on grounds of religious freedom. The slaughter of cows and the importation of beef into the nation of Nepal are strictly forbidden. Refrigeration technology allowed meat from the slaughterhouse to be preserved for longer periods. This led to
5530-483: The use of a recently developed fail-safe system of head-only stunning where the shock is non-fatal, and where it is possible to reverse the procedure and revive the animal after the shock. The use of electronarcosis and other methods of dulling the sensing has been approved by the Egyptian Fatwa Committee. This allows these entities to continue their religious techniques while keeping accordance to
5609-478: The war, partnered with Jacob Plankinton to build a highly efficient stockyard that serviced the upper Midwest. Chicago built the famous Union Stockyards in 1865 on 345 swampy acres to the south of downtown. Armour opened the Chicago plant, as did Nelson Morris , another wartime contractor. Cincinnati and Buffalo , both with good water and rail service, also opened stockyards. Perhaps the most energetic entrepreneur
5688-678: The workplace environment and associated stressors. Working at slaughterhouses often leads to a high amount of psychological trauma. A 2016 study in Organization indicates, "Regression analyses of data from 10,605 Danish workers across 44 occupations suggest that slaughterhouse workers consistently experience lower physical and psychological well-being along with increased incidences of negative coping behavior." A 2009 study by criminologist Amy Fitzgerald indicates, "slaughterhouse employment increases total arrest rates, arrests for violent crimes, arrests for rape, and arrests for other sex offenses in comparison with other industries." As authors from
5767-516: Was Gustavus Franklin Swift , the Yankee who operated out of Boston and moved to Chicago in 1875, specializing in long distance refrigerated meat shipments to eastern cities. A practical refrigerated (ice-cooled) rail car was introduced in 1881. This made it possible to ship cattle and hog carcasses, which weighed only 40% as much as live animals; the entire national market, served by the railroads,
5846-479: Was constructed beneath the market to create a triangular junction with the railway between Blackfriars and King's Cross . This allowed animals to be transported into the slaughterhouse by train and the subsequent transfer of animal carcasses to the Cold Store building, or direct to the meat market via lifts. At the same time, the first large and centralized slaughterhouse in Paris was constructed in 1867 under
5925-585: Was formerly a fish-shambles . Sheffield had 183 slaughterhouses in 1910, and it was estimated that there were 20,000 in England and Wales. The slaughterhouse emerged as a coherent institution in the 19th century. A combination of health and social concerns, exacerbated by the rapid urbanisation experienced during the Industrial Revolution , led social reformers to call for the isolation, sequester and regulation of animal slaughter. As well as
6004-416: Was limited by the poor quality control in the production of its meat and the general inferiority of frozen meat to the chilled meat exported by the United States and Australia. By 1900, the Argentine government encouraged investment in the industry to improve quality. The British dominated the world shipping industry and began fitting their ships for cold air containers, and built new refrigerated steamers. When
6083-463: Was linked with industrial expansion of by-products. By 1932 the British by-product industry was worth about £97 million a year, employing 310,000 people. The Aberdeen slaughterhouse sent hooves to Lancashire to make glue, intestines to Glasgow for sausages and hides to the Midland tanneries. In January 1940 the British government took over the 16,000 slaughterhouses and by 1942 there were only 779. In
6162-528: Was localized, with farmers providing beef and hogs for nearby butchers to serve the local market. Large Army contracts during the Civil War attracted entrepreneurs with a vision for building much larger markets. The 1865–1873 era provided five factors that expanded the industry to a national scale: In Milwaukee, Philip Armour , an ambitious entrepreneur from New York who made his fortune in Army contracts during
6241-460: Was opened up, as well as transatlantic markets using refrigerated ships . Swift developed an integrated network of cattle procurement, slaughtering, meat-packing, and shipping meat to market. Up to that time, cattle were driven great distances to railroad shipping points, causing the cattle to lose considerable weight. Swift developed a large business, which grew in size with the entry of several competitors. The Bureau of Corporations , predecessor of
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