Slaughterhouse prog last night
Discussion
My god 
Did anyone else see this last night?
All about the workforce in an Oldham slaughterhouse. Was the most brutal, horrible peice of TV I've ever seen. But very well done all the same.
Those people were absolute animals, their behaviour was disgusting and so was the job they carried out
I'd be a veggie after that but I like meat too much
Been buying more and more organic stuff recently and this has made my mind up never to buy meat from the supermarket again, my local butcher is getting my ££ from now on.
>> Edited by dave_s13 on Tuesday 5th July 08:44
Did anyone else see this last night? All about the workforce in an Oldham slaughterhouse. Was the most brutal, horrible peice of TV I've ever seen. But very well done all the same.
Those people were absolute animals, their behaviour was disgusting and so was the job they carried out
I'd be a veggie after that but I like meat too much
Been buying more and more organic stuff recently and this has made my mind up never to buy meat from the supermarket again, my local butcher is getting my ££ from now on.
>> Edited by dave_s13 on Tuesday 5th July 08:44
I used to work in a large slaughterhouse's adjacent office as IT support. When I started there I had the 'tour' and they asked if I wanted to go in to the slaughtering area or not, out of pure curiousity I said yes, thinking it could never be that bad in this day and age. They kitted me out in all the garb and in I went.
I'm hard pressed now to think of anything i've regretted more. It was a very nasty place to be, and something i'd very much like to forget.
Didn't see the show last night but if it was anything like what I saw then i'm glad I missed it.
I'm hard pressed now to think of anything i've regretted more. It was a very nasty place to be, and something i'd very much like to forget.
Didn't see the show last night but if it was anything like what I saw then i'm glad I missed it.
I missed it, but have been lucky enough to be brought up on a farm, and consequently realise that meat doesn't always have clingfilm over it.
You're right about the peeps that work in a commercial abbatoir though.....how can I put this?, there are some strange ones among them?.
My stepdaughter is one of the new generations "fish comes in a box with breadcrumbs over it" mentality. Showing her how to catch, dress, and cook something herself is to me, one of my lifes achievements.
Now, if I can just get her to try rabbit in red wine sauce........
Phil
You're right about the peeps that work in a commercial abbatoir though.....how can I put this?, there are some strange ones among them?.
My stepdaughter is one of the new generations "fish comes in a box with breadcrumbs over it" mentality. Showing her how to catch, dress, and cook something herself is to me, one of my lifes achievements.
Now, if I can just get her to try rabbit in red wine sauce........ Phil
dave_s13 said:
My god
All about the workforce in an Oldham slaughterhouse. Was the most brutal, horrible peice of TV I've ever seen. But very well done all the same.
Those people were absolute animals, their behaviour was disgusting and so was the job they carried out
I'd be a veggie after that but I like meat too much
Been buying more and more organic stuff recently and this has made my mind up never to buy meat from the supermarket again, my local butcher is getting my ££ from now on.
>> Edited by dave_s13 on Tuesday 5th July 08:44
i'd disagree with this to some extent in that i'd prefer to go to supermarket than most butchers. the supermarkets insist on certain standards in the main inc proper slaughter whereas you dont know where the butchers meat comes from. obviousely this excludes butchers who do it themselves who u can vouch for but its the smaller places as in this film that look more dodgy.
as for fffing halal i cant beleive its not banned for cruelty - religion my arse
one of the main problems in the meat industry has actually been the implementation of "enhanced" EU regulations, during the 80s when most smaller town slaughterhouses closed because they could not afford the capital investment to meet these regulations. while the larger establishments, who opperate for the supermarkets could and have now expanded, due to ecconomies of scale, this had a couple of effects:
the animals now have to travel much further from farm/market to go to get the chop. causing greater travel stress but importantly from a disease point of view. any disease now is spread further because the animals now have to travel further. this was shown as predicted during the last foot and mouth outbreak.(which was i believe introduced into the country by imported beef/stock).
the other effect is that, your little local butcher, and most towns had a few, would buy livestock, at the local cattle market, then have it killed at the local slaughterhouse. so the animal would come off the farm, go to market and get the chop the next day, having travelled only a short distance. local producers, local shop keeper, local market.
now it is mostly all wholesale, major centres, large distances.
now with few local butchers, as they are under cut by the supermarkets, because we the consumer want cheap food, the local butchers close as they can't afford the extra costs impossed by the wholesale operation, because the local slaughterhouses were forced to close due to being unable to meet the capital investment to meet the EU regulations.
now with no local slaughterhouses, this has spelt the end of many local livestock markets, as only the large centres remain.
blame the EU, but if you want good local produce, please support the farmers' markets.
the animals now have to travel much further from farm/market to go to get the chop. causing greater travel stress but importantly from a disease point of view. any disease now is spread further because the animals now have to travel further. this was shown as predicted during the last foot and mouth outbreak.(which was i believe introduced into the country by imported beef/stock).
the other effect is that, your little local butcher, and most towns had a few, would buy livestock, at the local cattle market, then have it killed at the local slaughterhouse. so the animal would come off the farm, go to market and get the chop the next day, having travelled only a short distance. local producers, local shop keeper, local market.
now it is mostly all wholesale, major centres, large distances.
now with few local butchers, as they are under cut by the supermarkets, because we the consumer want cheap food, the local butchers close as they can't afford the extra costs impossed by the wholesale operation, because the local slaughterhouses were forced to close due to being unable to meet the capital investment to meet the EU regulations.
now with no local slaughterhouses, this has spelt the end of many local livestock markets, as only the large centres remain.
blame the EU, but if you want good local produce, please support the farmers' markets.
I watched this program, and thought it a startling insight not into how an abatoir works, but more into the mind of the average low-wage working man.
It was difficult not to laugh at the guy who said "they teach you German etc, whats the point?". None of them appeared to have any kind of outlook on life, including ever voting, except the chap with the disease who seemed pretty intelligent.
The gruesome bits weren't that bad, as soon as people stop thinking of cows and sheep as being fluffy animals, and think of them as dinner for their plate, the better.
It was extremely well produced, congratulations to the BBC for that one, lets have more like it!
It was difficult not to laugh at the guy who said "they teach you German etc, whats the point?". None of them appeared to have any kind of outlook on life, including ever voting, except the chap with the disease who seemed pretty intelligent.
The gruesome bits weren't that bad, as soon as people stop thinking of cows and sheep as being fluffy animals, and think of them as dinner for their plate, the better.
It was extremely well produced, congratulations to the BBC for that one, lets have more like it!
yep saw it and had my face in a cringe throughout the whole programme. I forced myself to watch it as I do enjoy eating meat, so I felt I had to be showed how it was produced.
I wasnt that impressed with the treatment of the animals, ok so most of the workers were "lower" class low wage, barely educated (hell even the foreman couldnt read or write), but I thought that there was no "dignity" in the process...right down to when they were all laughing at the pig who was lying on his side after having had a heart attack.the most intelligent bloke was the halal slaughterman with the beard. He spoke thoughtfully about the whole process and how he still respects the animals even though he is going to slit its throat.
Certainly an insightful programme, but answer me this. If I did start buying organic meat, although it would have been reared differently, it would still eventually end up in the same slaughterhouse right?
I wasnt that impressed with the treatment of the animals, ok so most of the workers were "lower" class low wage, barely educated (hell even the foreman couldnt read or write), but I thought that there was no "dignity" in the process...right down to when they were all laughing at the pig who was lying on his side after having had a heart attack.the most intelligent bloke was the halal slaughterman with the beard. He spoke thoughtfully about the whole process and how he still respects the animals even though he is going to slit its throat.
Certainly an insightful programme, but answer me this. If I did start buying organic meat, although it would have been reared differently, it would still eventually end up in the same slaughterhouse right?
princeperch said:I believe so. Unless its organic organic from a small holding you happen to be good friends with.
Certainly an insightful programme, but answer me this. If I did start buying organic meat, although it would have been reared differently, it would still eventually end up in the same slaughterhouse right?
Rude-boy said:
Firmly of the belief that you shouldn’t eat anything you wouldn’t be prepared to catch/kill/dress yourself – hence the reason why I couldn’t be vegetarian
It's precisely why I am a 'veggie'.
Really I'm not a 'veggie' - I'd be the first one chasing cows round a field with a sledgehammer if civilisation went tits up.
But since I'm not hungry then my status is not going to change.
BTW I completely despise two things in life.....ppl who will only eat flesh wrapped in clingfilm (since it is far removed from a real animal)......and killing for fun.
billb said:
i'd disagree with this to some extent in that i'd prefer to go to supermarket than most butchers. the supermarkets insist on certain standards in the main inc proper slaughter whereas you dont know where the butchers meat comes from.
I had a Saturday job in a Supermarket butchers department when I was a student. I'm not saying that they're all the same, but what I saw going on there ensured that I try to avoid buying meat from a Supermarket. If I buy meat then, when possible, it's from a small independant butchers.
I remember one Monday morning the entire shop stunk (this was one of the largest Supermarkets for miles). The cause was a pig that had been left out over the weekend & was covered in maggots (meat was being prepared while the maggot infested pig was still laying there & the staff were fighting over who had to remove it & clean up the brown sticky slime that was all over the floor around it. There wasn't the slightest concern over customer health, the only worry was that somebody would contact the authorities about the horrendous stench throughout the entire shop. The least popular Saturday boy got the job of cleaning up the mess - he never showed up for work again). The next summer exactly the same thing happened & another maggot infested pig was in the butchers department on a Monday morning. Another time I cut my hand open while carrying a pig (the ribs are sharp where they're sawn). My blood was all over it, but it was still cut & served up, to the amusement of the full time staff. I can also remember 2 other Monday mornings where somebody hadn't closed the freezer door when the shop had closed on Saturday, so that everything in it was defrosting. The response to this? They coudn't waste all the meat (not with their small profit margins), so they shut the door & just carried on as normal. People did occasionally come in and complain about being ill, but the manager had a very good line in how strict the rules were & how they stuck to them with a convincing butter-wouldn't-melt look. Customers could see the meat being prepared in clean conditions, so were happy, but they couldn't see the room out the back where the carcasses were cut up. And if they lost a customer it didn't matter, there were plenty more.
A friends late father ran a small butcher all his life. His standards were far higher than the place I worked at. He couldn't afford to take risks/shortcuts. Any meat that was suspect (eg. approaching the sell by date) was sold cheap for people's dogs (the Supermarket would mince it or just stick it out with a "Reduced" label on). The food standards people were much stricter with him than they were with the Supermarket, but he didn't employ a team of people with a good line in BS & Colgate smiles (and he never got tipped off about when they were visiting - the Supermarket always seemed to have prior knowledge of an inspection & us Saturday boys were given jobs elsewhere in the shop to keep us out of the way). The same high standards also applied to another independant butcher that a mate had a Saturday job at.
The Supermarket chain involved no longer exists, but their staff must be employed somewhere....
You stick to Supermarkets that have clean display areas & a nicely cultured image as you're not sure where Independant butchers get their meat from (Mars? Sellafield?). Having seen behind the scenes in both, I know where I'd rather buy my meat.
planetdave said:
BTW I completely despise two things in life.....ppl who will only eat flesh wrapped in clingfilm (since it is far removed from a real animal)......and killing for fun.
Hmmmmn. Here's my take on it.
Totally agree about the clingfilm thing.
The killing thing? I would state it thus - "killing, solely for fun".
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