How Does
How Does a Slaughterhouse Work?
Animals Are Delivered
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Drop-Off Pens
Semi trucks as well as individuals deliver animals to the slaughterhouse and place them into a holding area, usually the night before slaughter. Typically, the slaughterhouse processes one type of animal during a workday. For example, cows and steers are brought in on certain days and pigs on another day. This procedure enables equipment changes as well as necessary sanitizing procedures. Very large slaughterhouses specialize in butchering just one type of animal.
Animals Are Slaughtered
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Animals in the holding area are brought toward the chute by moving gates enabling one to enter the slaughterhouse at a time. Large processing plants may have a conveyor belt that picks up animals, bringing one right after another. As an animal enters the slaughterhouse, a person fires a pneumatic device to stun the animal so that a hoist can pull it up by the hind legs. The next person on the assembly line cuts a slit in the neck, severing the aorta so that the animal bleeds. The animal must finish bleeding before the next step.
Animals Are Dressed and Cleaned
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The animal's head, hide or skin and internal organs are removed from the carcass. The hide or skin of the animal is cut away from the carcass quickly and efficiently, leaving most of the hide intact to be sold for leather goods. The internal organs are removed for separate distribution and to prevent contamination of the meat from the bowel. Workers split the carcass in half, using a band saw or similar instrument. Then they spray the carcass down to wash away the blood and mess. Inspectors check the carcass for disease and damage. If the meat is for commercial use, the inspectors will also grade the meat.
Sides of Meat Prepared
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The graded sides of meat are weighed, tagged and will hang in a large walk-in cooler from meat hooks to age. Usually, beef is aged for about a week, although some restaurants prefer to serve meat that has been aged for about 3 weeks. Eventually, the sides of beef will be distributed, or cut, and ground by meat cutters for consumption. Heads, hides, skins, entrails, feet and other byproducts of the operation are stored in individual areas for pickup or by rendering plants. The kill and production area is disinfected and thoroughly power-washed once all animals have been processed for the day.
eHow Article: How Does a Slaughterhouse Work?
