slaughterhouse

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Worker cleans a half of beef in a slaughterhouse, Chicago 1909

The slaughterhouse is a large-scale building complex , are housed in the other facilities that the extraction of fresh meat by the slaughter of animals for slaughter are to butchers and supermarkets to supply the processable divided products. Smaller slaughterhouses are usually referred to as slaughterhouses .

Processing and hygiene

Here, the meat is expertly divided into its components and stored in a way that it can be transported. In order to accommodate the slaughtered cattle, a slaughterhouse houses stables , which are connected to slaughterhouses, cold rooms and examination rooms for the veterinarians . Connected sewage treatment plants for the body fluids of the animals and the so-called “confiscate rooms”, in which meat that is unsuitable for short-term disposal for reasons of hygiene or disease , are mandatory.

After the several superspreading incidents of coronavirus infections in the slaughterhouse industry, the federal cabinet in Germany has decided to ban service contracts and temporary employment in the industry. From next January onwards, only employees of their own company are allowed to slaughter animals and process the meat. In addition, the government wants to initiate stricter controls to force employers to comply with health standards. Because scandalous working conditions in the meat industry have become known again and again in recent years: "Extremely long working hours, piecework in the smallest of spaces, no breaks, poor pay, as well as dirty and narrow collective accommodation for rip-off rents."

Sponsorship

The municipalities and the butchers' guild maintain the slaughterhouses in German-speaking countries with private participation. The development is moving more and more towards the private sector. Veterinary supervision lies with the state or local veterinary offices .

history

Processing of pigs in a large American slaughterhouse in Cincinnati, chromolithography after an original by Henry Farny , 1873
German army butchers in a French slaughterhouse in 1914
Processing of pigs in a large American slaughterhouse around 1903

The first industrial slaughterhouses with a simple assembly line production appeared around 1845 in Cincinnati . However, the assembly line production of meat was perfected in Chicago . After a railroad refrigerator truck was produced on behalf of the cattle dealer Gustavus Swift (1839-1903) in 1878 , which made it possible to sell slaughtered meat throughout the United States, Chicago developed into the meat metropolis of America within a few decades. After a brief period of competition, a cartel of five companies was formed within Chicago . Entrepreneurs Gustavus Swift, Philip Armor, Nelson Morris, Georg Hammond and Patrick Cudahy (the so-called "Big Five") built their slaughterhouses and meat factories along the Union Stockyard . Up to twelve million animals were slaughtered in these facilities every year. A processing speed of 15 minutes was achieved from the slaughter of a cattle to its cutting. The "Big Five" quickly dominated the meat market in the USA and soon belonged to the globally operating companies which, among other things, purchased beef from South America and exported their products to Europe. The automated mass production of the slaughterhouses was considered exemplary worldwide. As a result of the book The Jungle , published by investigative journalist Upton Sinclair , the hygienic and working conditions in the slaughterhouses came to light. As a result, the first effective consumer protection laws in the USA were passed in 1906 with the “ Pure Food and Drug Act ” and the “ Meat Inspection Act ” . The processing methods developed in the Chicago slaughterhouses have become established worldwide in an advanced form.

Today's development

Worker and cattle in the slaughterhouse

Since the beginning of the 1970s, many slaughterhouses in German-speaking countries no longer had a slaughterhouse in the conventional sense, as the majority of meat deliveries came from abroad . As a rule, therefore, only hygiene examinations, appraisals and dismantling were carried out there. As before, there were several freezer rooms that were used to store larger quantities of meat. In addition, the veterinarians responsible for the slaughterhouse issued so-called "identity checks" for meat deliveries from abroad. It was about the confirmation that the meat in a certain truck was identical to the meat that was noted in the customs papers or import documents. However, depending on the municipal regulations, the meat did not have to be unloaded from the refrigerator truck and taken to the slaughterhouse for this confirmation. It took place solely on the basis of the customs and import papers and the documents of the driver. Some of the large-scale complexes, some of which ensured the meat supply of a region or large city for over 150 years , were on the verge of economic viability, were renovated as cultural centers or completely dissolved due to their historic age .

In 2003 the magazine Ökotest examined 76 test marks and brand programs of slaughterhouse products and found 39 labels to be “very good” in the sense of “species-appropriate or ecological animal husbandry”. Seven conventional programs can be rated as “good”.

In 2011/12 there were around 5,100 licensed slaughterhouses in Germany.

The federal government confirmed in June 2012 that due to the piecework, animals suffer unnecessarily due to errors in stunning.

Video surveillance has been mandatory in slaughterhouses in the UK since May 2018 .

Literary processing

In his novel The Jungle, the socially critical author Upton Sinclair denounced the sometimes inhumane and animal degrading conditions in the USA in the early 20th century, especially in the “America's cold store”, Chicago . These are due to the prevailing monopoly capitalism . Inspired by this novel, Bertolt Brecht placed his play The Holy Joan of the Slaughterhouse in this milieu.

literature

  • Julius Hennicke : Report on slaughterhouses and cattle markets in Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, England and Switzerland . Ernst & Korn, Berlin 1866
  • Ludwig Klasen: Ground plan models of buildings of all kinds. Abth. V. Livestock markets, slaughterhouses and market halls . Baumgartner, Leipzig 1884, OCLC 79609304 .
  • Helmut Lackner: A "Bloody Business" - Municipal Stockyards and Slaughterhouses in the Urbanization Process of the 19th Century: A Contribution to the History of Urban Infrastructure . In: Technikgeschichte, Vol. 71 (2004), H. 2, pp. 89-138.

See also

Web links

Commons : Slaughterhouse  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Schlachthof  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Slaughterhouse  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jule Reimer: Why are corona infections increasing in slaughterhouses? . Deutschlandfunk, May 13, 2020.
  2. ↑ Klüver, Reymer: Death on the running belt . In: Geo epoch. The magazine for history . Vol. 30, ISBN 978-3-570-19781-3 , pp. 152-162.
  3. ↑ Ökotest, quality mark / test mark, organic and branded meat, April 14, 2003 ( Memento of April 13, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ More recent data in general (2013) and at the same time on the cost pressure regarding pig fattening s. Thuringian State Office for Agriculture: Economic benchmarks for pig fattening 2014; more up-to-date, but all, not just "large" slaughterhouses BTL database Federal Institute for Risk Assessment
  5. ↑ a b Government sees serious abuses at slaughterhouses. In: Zeit Online . June 21, 2012, accessed on June 21, 2012 : “Up to 750 pigs or 80 cattle per hour: piecework at slaughterhouses leads to errors in stunning, according to the government. Many animals would have to suffer unnecessarily. "
  6. ^ Cameras in the slaughterhouse: encouragement from Berlin. In: ndr.de. November 8, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2018 .