There is a slaughterhouse in the United States that can slaughter up to 10,000 pigs a day. It may sound a little hard to believe, but it's really happening. The whole process, from the arrival of live pigs to the delivery of finished products, is efficient and orderly. Want to find out how this plant made this spectacular happen?
In this large slaughterhouse in the United States, all the big fat pigs go through a series of preparation processes before the start of each day's work.
The pigs stopped eating 24 hours before entering the slaughterhouse in order to empty their stomachs and large intestines, ensure that the internal organs were clean during subsequent processing, and avoid contamination of the meat.
The pigs were given enemas and large amounts of water were used to wash their large intestines. This is not only for further cleaning, but also to speed up the pig's metabolism and ensure that the fishy smell in the meat is reduced as much as possible.
At the beginning of the slaughter process, each pig enters a narrow conveyor belt in its own row, a design that ensures that they can queue up in an orderly manner without congestion or confusion.
At the end of the conveyor belt, the staff played music for the pigs with special noise-cancelling headphones, and the high-voltage electrical current quickly knocked them unconscious, which was both quick and less painful.
Once the pigs lose consciousness, they roll down a ramp and are taken to the next step. This involves using hooks to hang them upside down and feed them into a sauna-like high-temperature and high-pressure steam chamber.
This process not only cleans the surface of the pig, but also kills bacteria on the surface, ensuring the hygiene and safety of the meat. This is followed by the feather burning process, where the slaughterhouse is equipped with multiple flamethrowers that automatically shoot high-temperature flames to burn the hair off the pigs.
Although this process may produce some unpleasant odors, it is a necessary step to ensure that the surface of the flesh is clean. After the fire, various small brushes will quickly rotate on the pig's body, further cleaning and polishing the surface of the flesh.
Pig offal is not in high demand in the United States, so these offal are usually processed separately, either exported to other countries or processed into dog food or other feed.
The staff in the slaughterhouse handle these offal with great care to ensure that they do not come into contact with the meat and avoid cross-contamination. The meaty part moves to the next stage, which includes segmentation, deboning, grading and packaging.
The slaughterhouse is equipped with high-tech X-ray machines that precisely scan the density and structure of each piece of meat to assist the staff in cutting it with precision, especially when cutting ribs, a technology that ensures that each piece is the right shape and size.
The factory also pays special attention to the quality control of the meat. Each batch of pork undergoes a rigorous quality check before it is packaged, including color, meat quality and hygiene checks.
Only after passing these checks can the meat be encapsulated, dated, and batch numbered, ready to be shipped to supermarkets and restaurants across the country.
The factory also pays great attention to environmental protection and sustainability throughout the slaughtering process. Pig blood and other waste products are collected and specially processed to be used to make biofertilizer or converted into other forms of energy.
The entire slaughtering process is not only efficient, but also minimizes the suffering of the animals and the burden on the environment. This highly automated and technological operation allows the slaughterhouse to slaughter up to 10,000 pigs per day while maintaining meat quality and safety.
While this scale and efficiency is impressive, the technology and management behind it are the result of thousands of trials and experience. There are strict operating procedures and quality control in every link to ensure that every step from the arrival of live pigs to the delivery of finished products meets industry standards.