Meat processors slaughter and process animals into meat for human consumption. Animals are brought from farms and placed in pens to prevent stress. Most animals are restrained, stunned, and killed with a quick cut knife. Carcasses are inspected and cooled before being cut into pieces and canned. Animal waste is processed into pet food.
Meat processors are factories where animals are slaughtered and processed into meat for human consumption. There are thousands of meat processors around the world and nearly every country has a different process for slaughtering animals. Animals that are often processed into food include chickens, cattle, sheep, horses, goats and turkeys.
Slaughterhouses have existed for many decades. Almost every large population that ever existed had some form of slaughterhouse. As people started living together in small spaces, the need for meat started to grow, as farms were not a reality within the city walls. Today’s meat processors are more mechanical than their predecessors, although humans are still an integral part of the slaughtering process.
Animals that need to be killed for meat are brought to meat processors from farms. As soon as these animals are unloaded from the trucks, they are sent to specially formed pens. These enclosures are often designed with many curves which prevent waiting animals from seeing other animals being slaughtered. This is essential so that animals being taken to slaughter do not become stressed, nervous or frightened. Otherwise, those animals pushed towards the “kill plan” would try to reverse direction.
While different countries employ different methods of killing, most of the animals are restrained, stunned with high voltage equipment, hung upside down and attached to an assembly line hook, and then killed with a quick cut knife in the area of the throat. Once all the blood has drained from an animal’s body, the animal’s head and feet are cut off.
Then, the animal’s skin is pulled out of the skin, the organs are removed, and the animal’s body is carefully inspected. Inspectors make sure that an animal is not sick or deformed in any way. In most countries, all animal carcasses must be inspected before allowing animal meat into the food chain. Sometimes, a carcass may be poked with an electric prod to promote tenderness of the meat – this is often done when the animal meat is tougher than usual.
Finally, an animal carcass is cooled to kill any bacterial growth, then cut into pieces and canned. After being canned, animal meat travels from meat processors to various locations around the world. All animal waste unfit for human consumption is sent to a manufacturing facility where some of this waste is then processed into canned pet food following specific processing procedures.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
