The meat packing industry handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is not included. This greater part of the entire meat industry is primarily focused on producing meat for human consumption, but it also yields a variety of by-products including hides, feathers, dried blood, and, through the process of rendering, fat such as tallow and protein meals such as meat & bone meal.

In the U.S. and some other countries, the facility where the meat packing is done is called a Slaughterhouse, packinghouse or a meat packing plant; in New Zealand, where most of the products are exported, it is called a freezing works. An abattoir is a place where animals are slaughtered for food.

The meat packing industry grew with the construction of the railroads and methods of refrigeration for meat preservation. Railroads made possible the transport of stock to central points for processing, and the transport of products.

Argentina

Argentina had the natural resources and human talent to build a world-class meat-packing industry. However its success in reaching European markets was limited by the poor quality control in the production of their meat and the general inferiority of frozen meat to the chilled meat exported by the United States and Australia, By 1900, the Argentine government encouraged investment in the industry to improve quality. The British dominated the world shipping industry, and began fitting their ships for cold air containers, and built new refrigerated steamers. The Argentine industry finally secured a large slice of the British market, Pateros and trade restrictions limited its penetration of the Continent.

China

Meat in China move from a minor specialty commodity to a major factor in the food supply in the late 20th century thanks to the rapid emergence of a middle-class with upscale tastes and plenty of money. It was a transition from a small ration of meat only for urban citizens to the world's largest meat-producer; It was a movement from a handful of processing facilities in major cities to thousands of modern meat packing and processing plants throughout the country. With the rapid growth of a middle-class with spending money.

Meatpackers

Big Four

At 1900 the dominating meat packers were:

Armour

Morris (acquired in 1923)

Cudahy

Wilson

Swift

Big Three

In the 1990s the Big Three were:

IBP

ConAgra Foods

Excel Corporation

Today

Current significant meat packers in the United States include:

Beef Packers:

Tyson Foods

Cargill Meat Solutions (Excel)

JBS USA (Swift)

National Beef

Pork Packers:

Smithfield Foods

Tyson Foods

JBS USA

Cargill Meat Solutions

Broiler Chickens:

Pilgrim's Pride

Tyson Foods

Perdue Farms

Sanderson Farms

Outside the United States:

Teys Australia

JBS S.A. (Brazil)

BRF S.A. (Brazil)

Charoen Pokphand Group (Thailand)

Imperial Cold Storage and Supply Company (South Africa)

Maple Leaf Foods (Canada)

Schneider Foods (Canada)

AFFCO Holdings (New Zealand)