The meat industry are the people and companies engaged in modern industrialized livestock agriculture for the production, packing, preservation and marketing of meat (in contrast to dairy products, wool, etc.). In economics, the meat industry is a fusion of primary (agriculture) and secondary (industry) activity and hard to characterize strictly in terms of either one alone. The greater part of the meat industry is the meat packing industry – the segment that handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as poultry, cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock.

A great portion of the ever-growing[1] meat branch in the food industry involves intensive animal farming in which livestock are kept almost entirely indoors[2] or in restricted outdoor settings like pens. Many aspects of the raising of animals for meat have become industrialized, even many practices more associated with smaller family farms, e.g. gourmet foods such as foie gras.[3][4] This heavy industrialization leads to an outsized environmental impact, responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions, land use change and degradation, and water, air and soil pollution.[5]

The production of livestock is a heavily vertically integrated industry where the majority of supply chain stages are integrated and owned by one company.[6] Each stage of the process of rearing animals to slaughter, is often concentrated in very few companies -- with some companies dominating multiple stages of the industry; for example in agrochemicals used in animal production 66% of global revenue are concentrated in four firms, in animal pharmaceuticals 58%.[7] For example, Brazil's JBS S.A. have secured market dominance in multiple sectors in the USA and Brazil and is the world's largest animal slaughter company.[5] This large economic influence, both within countries and over international trade, has created significant political influence from the industry.[5] A 2025 review of scholarship found that the animal agriculture industry has played an outsized role in obstructing measures to address climate change, by actively supporting disinformation campaigns, and preventing policy to address climate change.[5]

Global production of meat products

Main article: List of countries by meat production

Global production of meat in 2023 was 362.9 million tons of meat, most of which was produced in industrial supply chains.[8] Meat production is globally dominated by a handful of super producing net exporting countries of meat and meat products, such as China (97.5 million tons in 2023), the United States (47.5 million tons in 2023), and Brazil (31.6 million tons in 2023) which produce, together over 176 million tons or nearly half of global production.[8] A full list of producers can be found at List of countries by meat production.

Companies

Among the largest meat producers worldwide are:

See also: Meat Atlas

Forecasts

A Food and Agriculture Organization and OECD project for meat production across the world, project significant increases in animals slaughter from 2025 to 2034, as global demand for meat increases especially in lower middle income and lower income countries.[9]

Sectors involved

When describing the meat industry, typically the focus is on the steps between breeding and rearing animals, typically in industrial-type operations, and slaughter, through to the processing and distribution of the meat. Like other parts of the food system -- industrial scale companies tend to combine multiple of these items.

Most companies involved in the meat industry, also own businesses, factories or brands focused on using animal by-products, such as slaughterhouse waste used in pet food, or creating inputs for the sector, such as cattle feed.

Meat packing

Meat-packing also includes making processed meat.

Distribution

A meat jobber, also known as a meat wholesaler or meat distributor is an entity that purchases meat products from producers, typically in large quantities, and sells them to retailers.

Meat jobbers came to prominence in the 1940s, as the American highway system began to expand, superseding rail-based branch houses.[10][11]

Some meat jobbers known as meat breakers or meat boners would further process meat. In preparation for resale to retail, they "broke" the meat down from quarters to subprimal cuts and boned them prior to shipping.[10] Retailers used these meat jobbers since they offered flexibility in cuts, and independent packers used them since they had to do minimal processing, requiring minimal capital investment.[10]

A meat broker is an entity of the meat industry that brokers the buying and selling of meat, carcasses, animal products, and animals such as cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, etc.[12] Meat brokers can also be known as poultry brokers or meat and poultry broker depending on their offerings.

Criticism

Further information: Ethics of eating meat, Environmental impact of meat production and Veganism

Criticized aspects and effects of industrial meat production include:

See also: Red meat#Human health and Beef#Health concerns

Many observers[who?] suggest that the expense of dealing with the above is grossly underestimated by present economic metrics and that true cost accounting would drastically raise the price[17] of industrial meat.[18][19][20][21]

Effects on livestock workers

See also: Slaughterhouse#Worker exploitation concerns

American slaughterhouse workers are three times more likely to suffer serious injury than the average American worker.[22] NPR reports that pig and cattle slaughterhouse workers are nearly seven times more likely to suffer repetitive strain injuries than average.[23] The Guardian reports that, on average, there are two amputations a week involving slaughterhouse workers in the United States.[24] On average, one employee of Tyson Foods, the largest meat producer in America, is injured and amputates a finger or limb per month.[25] The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported that over a period of six years, in the UK 78 slaughter workers lost fingers, parts of fingers or limbs, more than 800 workers had serious injuries, and at least 4,500 had to take more than three days off after accidents.[26] In a 2018 study in the Italian Journal of Food Safety, slaughterhouse workers are instructed to wear ear protectors to protect their hearing from the constant screams of animals being killed.[27] A 2004 study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that "excess risks were observed for mortality from all causes, all cancers, and lung cancer" in workers employed in the New Zealand meat processing industry.[28]

The worst thing, worse than the physical danger, is the emotional toll. If you work in the stick pit [where hogs are killed] for any period of time—that let's [sic] you kill things but doesn't let you care. You may look a hog in the eye that's walking around in the blood pit with you and think, 'God, that really isn't a bad looking animal.' You may want to pet it. Pigs down on the kill floor have come up to nuzzle me like a puppy. Two minutes later I had to kill them – beat them to death with a pipe. I can't care.

— Gail A. Eisnitz, [29]

The act of slaughtering animals, or of raising or transporting animals for slaughter, may engender psychological stress or trauma in the people involved.[30][31][23][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] A 2016 study in Organization indicates, "Regression analyses of data from 10,605 Danish workers across 44 occupations suggest that slaughterhouse workers consistently experience lower physical and psychological well-being along with increased incidences of negative coping behavior."[40] A 2009 study by criminologist Amy Fitzgerald indicates, "slaughterhouse employment increases total arrest rates, arrests for violent crimes, arrests for rape, and arrests for other sex offenses in comparison with other industries."[40] As authors from the PTSD Journal explain, "These employees are hired to kill animals, such as pigs and cows, that are largely gentle creatures. Carrying out this action requires workers to disconnect from what they are doing and from the creature standing before them. This emotional dissonance can lead to consequences such as domestic violence, social withdrawal, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse, and PTSD."[41]

Slaughterhouses in the United States commonly illegally employ and exploit underage workers and illegal immigrants.[42][43] In 2010, Human Rights Watch described slaughterhouse line work in the United States as a human rights crime.[44] In a report by Oxfam America, slaughterhouse workers were observed not being allowed breaks, were often required to wear diapers, and were paid below minimum wage.[45]

Industry for alternative meats

Because of the outsized environmental and social impact of the meat industry, multiple industrial and social movements have proposed alternatives to a meat industry. Notable amongst these are cultured meat and meat alternatives, both industrially manufactured substitutes for meat for people seeking the experience of meat in food, without the associated environmental or ethical impacts. However, neither industry has taken a significant portion of the market. After much hype during the late 2010s and early 2020s, many of the larger companies, such as Beyond Meat, pursuing meat alternatives saw a significant drop in value.[46]

Alternative meat industry

Main article: Meat analogue

See also

References

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Further reading