In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir, is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a meat-packing facility.
Disembowelment, disemboweling, evisceration, eviscerating or gutting is the removal of organs from the gastrointestinal tract, usually through an incision made across the abdominal area. Disembowelment is a standard routine operation during animal slaughter. In ancient Rome, disembowelment of animals was practiced for divination, and was known as haruspicy. Disembowelment of humans may result from an accident, but has also been used as a method of torture, execution, or suicide. In such practices, disembowelment may be accompanied by various forms of torture or the removal of other vital organs.
Offal, also called variety meats, pluck or organ meats, is the internal organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, and these lists of organs vary with culture and region, but usually exclude skeletal muscle. Offal may also refer to the by-products of milled grains, such as corn or wheat.
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments. A butcher may be employed by supermarkets, grocery stores, butcher shops and fish markets, slaughter houses, or may be self-employed.
Sausage casing, also known as sausage skin or simply casing, is the material that encloses the filling of a sausage. Natural casings are made from animal intestines or skin; artificial casings, introduced in the early 20th century, are made of collagen and cellulose. The material is then shaped via a continuous extrusion process – producing a single sausage casing of indefinite length – which is then cut into desired lengths, usually while the extrusion process continues.
In railroad terminology, a stock car or cattle car is a type of rolling stock used for carrying livestock to market. A traditional stock car resembles a boxcar with louvered instead of solid car sides for the purpose of providing ventilation; stock cars can be single-level for large animals such as cattle or horses, or they can have two or three levels for smaller animals such as sheep, pigs, and poultry. Specialized types of stock cars have been built to haul live fish and shellfish and circus animals such as camels and elephants. Until the 1880s, when the Mather Stock Car Company and others introduced "more humane" stock cars, death rates could be quite high as the animals were hauled over long distances. Improved technology and faster shipping times have greatly reduced deaths.
In Judaism, shechita is ritual slaughtering of certain mammals and birds for food according to kashrut.
Pork ribs are a cut of pork popular in Western and Asian cuisines. The ribcage of a domestic pig, meat and bones together, is cut into usable pieces, prepared by smoking, grilling, or baking – usually with a sauce, often barbecue – and then served.
Hullin or Chullin is the third tractate of the Mishnah in the Order of Kodashim and deals with the laws of ritual slaughter of animals and birds for meat in ordinary or non-consecrated use, and with the Jewish dietary laws in general, such as the laws governing the prohibition of mixing of meat and dairy.
Marbled meat is meat, especially red meat, that contains various amounts of intramuscular fat, giving it an appearance similar to marble.
In animal husbandry, feed conversion ratio (FCR) or feed conversion rate is a ratio or rate measuring of the efficiency with which the bodies of livestock convert animal feed into the desired output. For dairy cows, for example, the output is milk, whereas in animals raised for meat the output is the flesh, that is, the body mass gained by the animal, represented either in the final mass of the animal or the mass of the dressed output. FCR is the mass of the input divided by the output. In some sectors, feed efficiency, which is the output divided by the input, is used. These concepts are also closely related to efficiency of conversion of ingested foods (ECI).
Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world. Owing to the relative ease and low cost of raising chickens—in comparison to mammals such as cattle or hogs—chicken meat and chicken eggs have become prevalent in numerous cuisines.
Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production. The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf operations, backgrounding, and feedlot operations. The production cycle of the animals starts at cow-calf operations; this operation is designed specifically to breed cows for their offspring. From here the calves are backgrounded for a feedlot. Animals grown specifically for the feedlot are known as feeder cattle, the goal of these animals is fattening. Animals not grown for a feedlot are typically female and are commonly known as replacement heifers. While the principal use of beef cattle is meat production, other uses include leather, and beef by-products used in candy, shampoo, cosmetics, and insulin.
Animal slaughter is the killing of animals, usually referring to killing domestic livestock. It is estimated that each year, 80 billion land animals are slaughtered for food. Most animals are slaughtered for food; however, they may also be slaughtered for other reasons such as for harvesting of pelts, being diseased and unsuitable for consumption, or being surplus for maintaining a breeding stock. Slaughter typically involves some initial cutting, opening the major body cavities to remove the entrails and offal but usually leaving the carcass in one piece. Such dressing can be done by hunters in the field or in a slaughterhouse. Later, the carcass is usually butchered into smaller cuts.
Intensive animal farming, industrial livestock production, and macro-farms, also known as factory farming, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production while minimizing costs. To achieve this, agribusinesses keep livestock such as cattle, poultry, and fish at high stocking densities, at large scale, and using modern machinery, biotechnology, and global trade. The main products of this industry are meat, milk and eggs for human consumption. There are issues regarding whether intensive animal farming is sustainable in the social long-run given its costs in resources. Analysts also raise issues about its ethics.
Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chickens are killed for consumption annually. Chickens raised for eggs are known as layers, while chickens raised for meat are called broilers.
Pig farming, pork farming, or hog farming is the raising and breeding of domestic pigs as livestock, and is a branch of animal husbandry. Pigs are farmed principally for food and skins.
Pig slaughter is the work of slaughtering domestic pigs to obtain pig meat (pork). It regularly happens as part of traditional and intensive pig farming, which is both a common economic activity as well as a traditional feast in some European and Asian countries.
Countries regulate the marketing and sale of beef by observing criteria of cattle carcasses at the abattoir (slaughterhouse) and classifying the carcasses. This classification, sometimes optional, can suggest a market demand for a particular animal's attributes and therefore the price owed to the producer.
The Butcher is an American competition reality series that airs on the History channel. In each episode, four butchers compete in a three-round elimination contest to test their butchering skills, with the overall winner receiving $10,000 and the day's championship title. The series is hosted by Colby Donaldson, with a three-judge panel consisting of David Budworth, Roxanne Spruance, and Michael Sullivan, experts in the practice of butchering. The series premiered on May 22, 2019, with a six-episode first season. The series shares a similar format to its sister-show Forged in Fire.
