Facts About Slaughter Houses
Slaughterhouses, also called an abattoirs, are industrial facilities where animals are killed and processed into meat products.
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U.S. Production
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There are about 5,700 slaughterhouses in the U.S. that slaughter around ten billion animals each year. They employ 527,000 workers and kill mostly cattle, foul, pigs, horses and goats.
History
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As long as meat markets have been in existence in larger settlements, slaughterhouses have been the place for meat processing. During the Elizabethan era (or late 16th century), outdoor slaughterhouses, called "shambles" were used in England. And today, some streets in English towns are still referred to as "The Shambles."
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Dr. Temple Grandin
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Dr. Temple Grandin, is responsible for the proliferation of the modern slaughterhouse, designed to reduce the psychological stress of to-be-slaughtered animals, using a single-file killing approach. She claims to be responsible for the design of over half the facilities producing meat in the U.S.
International Slaughterhouses
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Slaughterhouses are operated and viewed in different ways all over the world. In Jewish and Muslim countries, slaughter practices are ruled by religious laws, most notably, not using electric stun methods used in the US, and keeping the animal conscious until the point of death.
The Jungle
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The Jungle, a novel made popular by Upton Sinclair in the late 1800's, exposed the harsh and unsanitary conditions of slaughterhouses at the time. This led to the Meat Inspection Act of 1906, as well as the Pure Food and Drug Act. This legislation was the building blocks for the food safety and regulation agencies we have today.
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