Raccolta D'Inverno, Winter's Harvest
Clip 3: Porcine processing
1 min 37 sec (
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Taken from the documentary Raccolta D'Inverno, Winter's Harvest (1979)
Original title classification not known – this clip chosen to be PG
Availability of the complete title
This clip contains images of animal slaughter in an abbatoir.
Curator’s clip description
A pig is slaughtered and disembowelled at the abattoir. Its carcass is carved up and joins dozens of others in a refrigerated storeroom.
Curator’s notes
A strong contrast to the slaughter depicted in clips one and two. The sight of a live pig being hung up and put on a production line still kicking is distressing.
Damien Parer, curator
Teachers’ notes
provided by The Le@rning Federation
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This clip shows the process involved in killing and preparing a pig to be sold as meat. The footage is taken inside an abattoir where the live pig is rounded up prior to being stunned, killed, cleaned, dismembered and hung in the refrigeration unit. The process is handled with speed and efficiency and the images of killing, washing and dismemberment are accompanied by the natural sounds of the animal squealing and then the sounds of the equipment that is used to process the animal.
Educational value points
- The clip provides graphic images of the largely mechanised slaughter of pigs in an industrial slaughter-house. The process appears to be clean and efficient with the live animal reduced to a carcass in a matter of minutes.
- Every animal killed for human consumption in Australia must be killed in an authorised abattoir, as shown in the clip, and animals are required to be unconscious before they are killed. In Australia there are also certified halal and kosher abattoirs that undertake ritual killings as required by the kosher and halal dietary requirements of orthodox Jews and Muslims. Islamic religious leaders in Australia have approved the electrical stunning of sheep prior to slaughter.
- The clip shows how the animal is stunned before it is slaughtered. Those who defend abattoir slaughtering argue that stunning ensures a degree of humane treatment and therefore protects the animal’s welfare.
- Animal welfare advocates criticise methods of animal farming, transportation and slaughtering practices as shown in this clip. Animal rights advocates, such as Peter Singer, go further and argue that animals have certain fundamental rights akin to those of humans and therefore should not be treated as property but should be accorded rights under law, including not being killed for food.
- The clip gives an insight into the practice of slaughtering animals in Australia. However, animal husbandry practices and laws differ in different countries. The federal Animal Welfare Act in the United States does not apply to animals used in agriculture. The US Humane Slaughter Act first passed in 1958 requires that animals are rendered unconscious before slaughter but does not apply to ritual or home slaughter.
