Main content

Inside the Abattoir

A meat-eater watches a cow become beef.

This episode includes audio of the slaughter of farm animals, which some may find upsetting. But if you happily eat meat, should you be willing to listen along as cows become beef?

Would you be happy to witness it? And what might change if you did?

Emily Thomas visits Tideford Abattoir, a slaughterhouse in the south of England to get an uncomfortably close up view of animals becoming food.

As our food supply becomes ever more global and industrial, many of us have become distanced from the origins of what we eat. And nowhere, perhaps is this more pronounced, than with animals. Most of the meat we buy bears little resemblance to the breathing, thinking creature it once was.

Across the world, slaughterhouses, or abattoirs, have long stayed in the shadows, inviting little public scrutiny. But as consumers demand a more transparent food chain, could we be heading towards a more open approach to slaughter? And how would this change our attitudes to meat?

(Photo: Slaughterman with cow carcass. Credit: 大象传媒)

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Sun 18 Nov 2018 08:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 03:32GMT
  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 05:32GMT
  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 11:32GMT
  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 18:32GMT
  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 21:32GMT
  • Thu 15 Nov 2018 23:32GMT
  • Sun 18 Nov 2018 08:32GMT

Food Chain highlights

Tea, coffee, spices, chillies ... snack on a selection of programme highlights

Podcast