Pig slaughter
This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (November 2023) |
Pig slaughter is the work of
Agriculture
The Humane Slaughter Association states that the transport of pigs to slaughter and all the other procedures and circumstances leading up to the actual act of stunning and killing the pig are, in modern times, often carefully arranged in order to avoid excessive suffering of animals, which both has a humane rationale as well as helping provide for a higher quality of meat.[1][2] Animal rights groups have recorded images of pigs being transported to slaughter in cramped and unhygienic conditions.[3][4] They state that the transportation does cause suffering, which has economic rationale.[5] Research also confirms stunning of pigs in CO2 gas chambers in particular has animal welfare concerns, as the high concentrations of CO2 used are highly aversive to pigs.[6]
Typically, pigs are first rendered unconscious using one of the following means: stunning using
The pig is then eviscerated, the head is usually removed, and the body is cut into two halves. The remaining halves are washed to remove any remaining blood, bacteria or remnants of bone, and then cooled down in order to help with the process of cutting and deboning.
In the European Union, the Regulation (EC) of the European Parliament and of the Council No. 852/2004, 853/2004 and 854/2004 cover various aspects of hygiene of foodstuffs that includes pig slaughter.[10][11][12]
European tradition
Pig slaughter is a tradition known in numerous European countries and regions: Armenia (Խոզ մորթելը, Khoz mort’ely), in Albania, it is only Traditional among Christians, Austria (Sautanz),[13] Bulgaria (колене на прасе, kolene na prase), North Macedonia (колење на прасе, kolenje na prase), Croatia (kolinje), the Czech Republic (zabijačka), France (tue-cochon), Georgia (ღორის დაკვლა, ghoris dak’vla), Greece, Hungary (disznóvágás or disznótor), Italy (maialatura), Moldova, Montenegro (svinjokolj), Poland (świniobicie), Portugal (matança), Romania (tăiatul porcului, Ignat), Russia (Убой свиней, Uboy sviney) Serbia (svinjokolj), Slovakia (zabíjačka), Slovenia (koline), Spain (matanza), Ukraine, Corsica and others.
Family
Traditional autumn activity
The slaughter traditionally takes place in the autumn and early winter, and the timing has several practical considerations.[14] It can start as soon as it gets cold, as the cold is required as a natural method of preserving the relatively large quantities of meat during the butchering.[15] Yet, because people often do the work in the open, it is preferable that the temperatures aren't too much below freezing during this time, hence the slaughter rarely extends into winter. Also, slaughter activities typically need to produce results before the Christmas season, to provide for the festive cuisine.
In the past, this was also the only time of the year when people could afford to eat larger amounts of
The slaughter requires numerous preparations, including troughs,
Historically, butchering was a trade passed from father to son.[15] Today the initial slaughter is normally performed by a professional butcher.[14] After that, the meat is butchered by laymen, and the process is accompanied by various local rituals.[15]
Act of slaughter and the butchering of carcass
Traditionally, the pig is slaughtered with a knife and then put in a wooden or a metal trough and showered with hot water to remove the hair. The pig is then removed from the trough and any remaining hair is removed with a knife or a razor,[15] and then it is again washed with hot water.
Today, the animal is rendered unconscious by electrical or carbon dioxide stunning and then immediately bled by cutting the throat.[14] For quality reasons, mechanical means of stunning such as a captive bolt pistol are not recommended although in some abattoirs they do use it and the pigs are stunned using 80 volts.[14][16]
Then, the pig's
In modern times, because of the danger of Trichinosis, people in some countries are required to have critical parts of the fresh meat tested by a veterinarian before any further contact with potentially infected meat.[17]
Very sharp knives and a
Processing of animal parts
After it is cut into pieces, the meat from the animal is then processed further into edible products.
The buttocks are salted and pressed in order to eventually produce ham. The ribcage meat is salted and smoked in order to get bacon.[14] Salt is rubbed thoroughly into each piece of meat and all surfaces are covered. Some formulas also include much black pepper. The bulk of the meat is cut and ground to produce various sausages, which are traditionally wrapped into the intestines of various sizes.[14]
The bulk of the fat is cut into small pieces. Some of it is fried to produce cracklings.
The intestines are stripped by drawing them through a clenched fist. They are then washed, cut into short pieces, and fried to make
The various "leftovers" are put into various forms of
The
Country-specific statistics and customs
Former Yugoslavia
This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2007) |
The traditional pig slaughter in
After WWII, in Yugoslavia, a state holiday fell on 29 November, with that and next day being non-working, so most slaughters were held on that occasion. In Croatian region Dalmatia, the pig-slaughter are traditionally done in period between Christmas and New Year's Eve.
The entire duration of the slaughter can be as long as three days. Because people were traditionally stocking up on supplies before winter, it became customary to slaughter more than one pig, which increased the amount of time necessary for the meat to be processed. Some families visit their relatives (often grandparents) and friends at that time of the year, in order to help. Also, little mechanization is used, with meat being cut manually. Any grinding is done with relatively small manually operated, mechanical grinding machines.
The traditionally produced ham (šunka), bacon (slanina), the sausages (kobasica) such as
To complement the activities,
The pig liver is customarily roasted the same day of the slaughter.
Men and women were traditionally assigned different jobs during the slaughter. It was commonly the men who were doing the actual slaughter, the larger part of butchering, and the grinding of meat. Because the society is traditionally
The standard of hygiene long recommended by veterinarians has included various requirements for the people, tools and space used in the process. All people involved in the slaughter and butchering must be healthy, dressed with a hat, apron and boots, and clean hands. The tools (knives, axes, saws etc.) are sharpened, cleaned and disinfected before use, and they should be kept in a clean place throughout the process, preferably in a clean toolbox around the butcher's belt. The location of the killing needs to be a clean concrete surface with a sewer canal, meaning that the space can be easily cleaned. The trough used should have a zinced surface which is easy to clean and disinfect; the wooden troughs absorb water and microorganisms which makes them unsuitable.
The
Croatian animal rights activists regard the traditional slaughtering process as cruel and outdated. They also question if European animal welfare and sanitary standards are really met, as there is not sufficient supervision available during the country-wide slaughter. Farmers are barely educated about the new standards they have to apply to, as this information is solely available through a website from the Ministry of Agriculture.
The most vocal Croatian animal rights organization "Animal Friends Croatia" advocates banning the entire practice.[18]
In the process of
Czech Republic
In some countries traditional pig slaughter is a special event.[21] Pig slaughter in the Czech Republic has usually taken place during the winter months, when low temperatures make it easier to store fresh meat and meat products. Preparations for the event extended over a number of days and involved a variety of ceremonies.[21] The event itself was accompanied by the making of traditional dishes such as jitrnice, tlačenka, prdelačka and škvarky. After the slaughter, the young men of the village would visit neighbours and relatives bringing gifts of meat and fresh soup. The pig slaughter ended with what was called a karmina, a special celebration held in the household where the slaughter had taken place. Invited guests, sometimes dressed in masks, would join in the feasting and drinking.[21] In the past, the traditional pig slaughters usually ended on Ash Wednesday.[21]
Traditional pig slaughters (zabijačka) still (as of 2011) take place in public at Masopust (Mardi Gras) celebrations in many Czech towns and villages.[22][23]
However the domestic pig slaughter is a disappearing tradition.[
The traditional domestic pig slaughter was a favourite theme of the renowned Czech painter Josef Lada.[21] In the play Prase (The Pig, 1987), Václav Havel tries to buy a pig for a zabijačka by local villagers, with difficulty because as a dissident he is considered politically suspect.[25][26] In 1968, Jiří Šebánek, a founder of the Jára Cimrman Theatre, wrote the play The Pig Slaughter at Home. Toilet Horror.[27]
Slovakia
In
In the past there were a number of traditional customs associated with the pig slaughter. After the slaughter, the girls of the household would collect the bones and scatter them around the yard for love magic purposes. They believed that when a dog snatched the first bone, the girl who had thrown the bone would be the first one to marry.[28]
See also
References
- ^ Humane Slaughter of Pigs Archived 16 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine, by the Humane Slaughter Association, United Kingdom
- ^ ISSN 1332-0025.
- ^ Porter, Catherine (9 May 2012). "Porter: Toronto Pig Save activists protest slaughter weekly at Quality Meat Packers abattoir | The Star". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- ^ "22 Heartbreaking Photos From Pigs' Journey to Slaughter". PETA. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- ^ Ethics, Animal (29 March 2016). "The journey to the slaughterhouse". Animal Ethics. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- PMID 33461892– via Elsevier Science Direct.
- ^ "Stages of pork production". australianpork.com.au. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
- ^ "Results of the 2022 FSA Slaughter Sector Survey in England and Wales" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
- ^ "What Happens to Pigs? - The Issues". PETA India. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- ^ Food hygiene
- ^ Hygiene for food of animal origin
- ^ Official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption
- ^ "Die wiederbelebte Tradition des Sautanzes" [The revived tradition of the "Sautanz" (pig dance)]. Der Standard (in German). 2 December 218. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ ISSN 1332-0025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kadić Goran, Franjo Babić. "Život kroz godinu" (in Croatian). gradiste.com. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
- ^ Humane Slaughter of Pigs Archived 16 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine, by the Humane Slaughter Association, England
- ISSN 1332-0025.
- ^ "Home Slaughter". Animal Friends Croatia. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
- ^ "Nema zabrane, ali je svinjokolja sve manje" [No ban, but there's still less pig slaughter]. Glas Slavonije (in Croatian). 24 November 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
- ^ "Zabrana "Kolinja"" (in Croatian). Europski dom Zagreb. 17 January 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Turek, Milan (31 January 2009). "Zabíjačkové karminy a rafinézní erotiky" (in Czech). Pozitivní noviny. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
- ^ a b Vaňková, Zuzana (30 January 2010). "Zabijačky: česká tradice, která zaniká". deník.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 23 May 2011.
- ^ Lazarová, Daniela (28 February 2004). "Magazine". Czech Radio. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
- ^ Lapčík, Michael (26 June 2009). "Brusel koriguje zabíjačky, musí je dělat odborník". deník.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 24 May 2011. ("Zjištění, že se v Rumunsku zvířata před porážkou neomračují, vyvolalo na půdě evropských institucí hysterickou reakci. Staré členské státy začaly volat po celoevropské přísnější úpravě. Výsledkem je učebnicový příklad nesmyslné evropské legislativy ukrajující další kousek z národních tradic.“)
- ^ Willoughby, Ian (20 March 2010). "Brno theatre stages previously unknown Havel play". Czech Radio. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
- Mladá fronta DNES. 24 March 2010. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
- ^ Kroc, Vladimír (20 October 2007). "3. díl Hospoda na mýtince a Domácí zabijačka" (in Czech). Czech Radio. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
- ^ a b c "Zabíjačka bola v minulosti spoločenská udalosť" (in Slovak). Generalkonsulat Slowakische Republik in Zürich. 7 January 2011. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2011.