Slow Food and Beef Processing

The slow food movement supports many programs around the world.  They have started seed banks to preserve native varieties. They support the preservation and promotion of local and traditional food product and preparation know-how.  This is the kind of knowledge that has traditionally been passed down through the generations.  The slow food movement organizes celebrations of local cuisine within the region of production.

They have been instrumental in promoting and organizing small-scale abatoirs. The largest slaughter and packing plants handle over 1 million animals each year.   At over 400 animals per hour this approaches a factory assembly line of unskilled laborers.  If there is contamination in one of the large plants the impact to the food supply is great.  The integration of today's livestock industry is approaching a monopoly situation where the top retailers own the feedlots, who own the factory farms where the cattle are produced.  For small, local, niche producers to market direct to the consumer the weak link in the chain is harvesting and processing.  For sustainable livestock agriculture to take root then these small processing plants must be sustained.