History of Slaughterhouses

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History of the Slaughterhouses Slaughterhouses emerged in eighteenth century to add larger transitions to the increasing industrial revolution. There was a massive increase of urbanization, transportation and technology. At the beginning of the nineteenth century reformers argued that public slaughterhouses’ would be preferable to ‘private slaughterhouses’ due to the increasing growing concerns of hygiene. Removing the slaughtering from public places into a private slaughterhouse had many benefits. It would be easier to watch over how the meat was handled, there would be more room to work and a much cleaner environment than if it was done in the outside slaughterhouse. Reformers argued that the state should be regulating “morally dangerous” work. The very first slaughterhouse appeared in France in the beginning of the eighteenth century. The word “abattoir” meant a specific place where animals were slaughtered. Although these slaughterhouses were “public”, the public eye could not see them. They made the building less and less visible to the public. At that point concerns were raised in France on how the meat was being handled. There also was a cholera outbreak in 1840’s, the public became increasing concerned about animals being slaughtered in the city. This led to a heated battle for a reform. People were concerned that the slaughterhouse could change the morals of the workers after they observed what was going on in the slaughterhouse. A man that was interviewed said “The violence against animals educate the men in the practice of violence and cruelty, so that they seem to have no restraint on the use of it,” (Philo 1998,65). So the slaughterhouse was closed and they began building slaughterhouses outside of the city. “Today, the slaughterhouse is cursed and quarantined like a boat carrying cholera. In fact, the victims of this curse are not

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