Report / Committee of Inquiry into Fatstock and Carcase Meat Marketing and Distribution.

  • Great Britain. Committee of Inquiry into Fatstock and Carcase Meat Marketing and Distribution
Date:
1964
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report / Committee of Inquiry into Fatstock and Carcase Meat Marketing and Distribution. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    59/340 page 45
    The use of a stunning pen, which restrains the movement of animals while they are being stunned, is compulsory for cattle in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; legislation on slaughterhouse construction, equipment and maintenance in Scotland will come into operation in July, 1964 (see paragraph 227). The side and, in some designs, the floor of the pen or box are moveable by a lever so that, after stunning, the animal is deposited on to the slaughterhall floor. Stunning pens are also used for some other animals. 204. Bleeding is carried out as soon as possible after the animal has been stunned. The main blood vessels of the neck are severed and the animal rapidly bleeds to death. Modern practice is to hoist the animal by one hind leg and to suspend it from an overhead rail while the bleeding takes place, but in many slaughterhouses animals are still bled lying on the floor or on low cradles. 205. The dressing of the carcase involves a number of operations which have a considerable effect on the quality, including keeping quality, of the carcase and on the value of the by-products. For cattle, the head is first skinned and detached from the carcase. The feet are cut off at the knee and hock joints and the hide is usually then removed. The abdomen is opened and the stomachs, intestines, liver, lungs and heart are removed and kept with the carcase to await inspection. Finally the carcase is chopped or sawn through the vertebrae producing two sides which, along with the offal, are then ready for final meat inspection. If the meat and offals are passed as fit for human consumption they are removed to the hanging room. 206. For sheep and calves the basic operations are similar to those for cattle except that the carcase is not split. Where modern techniques are used, the entire operation is carried out with the carcase suspended from an overhead rail, but the older method is to carry out most of the dressing with the carcase resting in a cradle (or cratch). 207. Pigs are not skinned (except for the production of Ayrshire bacon). After bleeding, the carcase is immersed in hot water for several minutes and then the hairs on the skin are removed either by hand scraping or in a dehairing machine. Pigs for bacon and manufacturing are usually split but pigs for pork are left in carcase form. Hanging rooms 208. All but the smallest slaughterhouses are equipped with one or more hanging rooms, to which the carcases are moved, usually on overhead rails, after dressing. Here they are allowed to cool before removal from the slaughterhouse. In many of the newer slaughterhouses, tempera- tures in the hanging rooms are regulated at a level of 36-42°F., i.e. cool but above freezing point. In the older slaughterhouses, although there is seldom provision for temperature control, the hanging rooms are generally so situated and designed as to keep the meat as cool as possible in summer. By-products rooms 209. The extent to which slaughterhouses also include facilities for processing by-products varies considerably. Separate space is needed for
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