Utility Services and Plant Management

A modern abattoir/meat plant is not merely a slaughterhouse where animals are killed for meat but it is a food factory where all the operations are dictated by standards of hygiene and animal welfare. Therefore, to produce wholesome meat for the consumers, it is essential to maintain quality parameters related to health, hygiene and sanitation during the entire process. Personal hygiene and cleanliness practices followed by the worker are very important in this regard. Persons with clean hands, clothing and good hygienic practices are absolutely essential to the production of high quality meat. For smooth running of an abattoir number of personnel are placed in different divisions with defined job responsibility which includes production manager, quality control manager, veterinary doctors etc. 

The yield of the by-product (blood, skin, bones etc.) from meat animal is about 45-55 per cent of the live weight and if not utilized properly can lead to economic loss and environmental pollution. Therefore, recovery of by-products and their conversion into value added products such as sausage casings from animal intestine, tallow and lard from animal fat, wool from sheep's skin, hide from cattle, animal scrap, bone (used in poultry and other feeds), blood, gelatin, etc. forms an integral part of the meat plant.