Definition for Abattoirs

Abattoir is the French name for what is commonly known as a slaughterhouse in the United States and much of the English speaking world. A slaughterhouse is a place where animals are butchered for food; it is a gruesome, but necessary, part of the modern human food chain, though criticisms of slaughterhouses do arise form time to time.

  1. History

    • Slaughterhouses are tightly regulated by the government today, but this was not always the case. In the 19th century, some cities began enacting sanitation reform to try and clean up slaughterhouses and individual butchers, who dumped animal remains in nearby water systems and let blood run out in to the street. Eventually, stricter government regulations further sanitized slaughterhouses, to the point where today they are relatively clean, considering the work done there.

    Slaughtering

    • The primary purpose of a slaughterhouse is the slaughtering of animals. The range of animals is vast, and includes cows, pigs, chickens, fish and most other animal products that you would find in a grocery store or at a butcher's shop. Though the job of slaughtering was originally done by butchers, slaughterhouses have industrialized the process, and can throughput large numbers of animals, depending on the species in question, in a single day.

    Processing

    • Once the animals have been slaughtered, they must be processed. Depending on the species in question, most animals will be allowed to bleed out. They will also be skinned, gutted, and the carcass may be cut up, depending on what species it is. Meat is not the only product that slaughterhouses produce. Processing cows, for instance, will also produce leather products, as well as edible, non-meat products like suet.

    Criticisms

    • Slaughterhouses regularly have a number of criticisms leveled against them, from animal rights groups, but also other groups on other issues. Contamination is a major concern with slaughterhouses, for instance. Fecal matter can contaminate the food, and other sanitation lapses are likely to occur. In 1996, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) determined that in a number of beef samples taken from processing plants around the country, 7.5 percent were contaminated with Salmonella, and 30 percent with Staphylococcus Aureus.