[Report] "Nowadays, Robots Handle All the Slaughtering"... Visiting the Largest Slaughterhouse in the Central Region

Giant Mechanical Arm Slaughters Pigs in 7.7 Seconds Each
Government Takes Action on Fatty Samgyeopsal Issue... "Will Impose Penalties"

As a giant mechanical saw smoothly sliced through the white belly surface of a pig dangling in midair, its organs, drained of blood and turned grayish, spilled down. The bellies of the next pig and the one after that were also neatly split open by robotic arms, spilling their innards. It was an orderly scene more reminiscent of a semiconductor factory than a slaughterhouse. In the next process, the heads were removed from the pigs whose innards had been emptied, and in the following step, the bodies were completely halved. All these processes were carried out in the blink of an eye by massive robotic arms.

"Robots that split the belly, robots that cut the head, and robots that halve the pig. Through these robots, we slaughter 3,000 pigs a day. That's one pig every 7.7 seconds."

A representative from Porkville is explaining the pig slaughtering process.
[Photo by Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs]

On February 28, four days before Samgyeopsal Day (March 3), I visited the Daejeon Chungnam Pig Farming Cooperative Porkville Livestock Market, the largest slaughter facility in the central region. Within a massive building covering 19,000 pyeong on a 26,500-pyeong site, 3,000 pigs and 250 cattle are slaughtered daily. Robotic arms are deployed throughout. Especially for pigs, whose sizes are relatively uniform, robotic arms handle almost the entire slaughtering process.

Of course, humans are not completely excluded but only perform auxiliary tasks. As a result, unlike typical slaughterhouses which are male-dominated, both men and women are involved in the slaughtering process at the Chungnam Porkville Market. A Porkville official said, "While most domestic slaughterhouses are still male-centered, Chungnam Porkville Market has systematized the slaughterhouse, allowing both men and women to be engaged in the same tasks."

The pig slaughtering facility here applies a system imported from Denmark, a European leader in slaughter technology, forming a 155-meter straight line. Pigs are transported suspended in the air without their hooves touching the ground. Employees are heavily equipped with sanitary clothing reminiscent of a semiconductor factory. A public official dispatched from Chungnam Province was also conducting inspections on pork and pig innards. This effectively eliminates hygiene issues at the source. A Porkville official emphasized, "Not only here but all domestic slaughterhouses perform slaughtering with livestock suspended in the air, and local government officials conduct on-site inspections. Consumers can trust and safely consume livestock products."

Cattle are also hung upside down on conveyor belts and undergo a slaughtering process similar to pigs. The hide and innards are removed sequentially, and a technician with 20 years of experience uses a mechanical saw to bisect the cattle. Unlike pigs, cattle sizes vary, making it difficult to uniformly apply robotic arms, according to Porkville. Since the technology is still under development, it is expected that in the near future, both pigs and cattle will be slaughtered by machines. A Porkville official said, "We understand that a domestic company and a research institute in Ulsan are also researching mechanical slaughtering of cattle."

After the slaughtering process, cattle and pigs are moved to a processing plant on the same floor as the slaughterhouse while maintaining a low temperature. Unlike the slaughtering process, which heavily relies on machines, the processing stage depends on human hands. Workers use knives to break down the carcasses on conveyor belts and move them to respective workstations for detailed processing. For the most popular cut, samgyeopsal (pork belly), the 'trimming' process to remove fat is the most important. Next to the samgyeopsal workstation, piles of finely chopped fat pieces were stacked.

The recently controversial 'fatty samgyeopsal' resulted from insufficient fat removal during this trimming process. Following the controversy, the government recently issued guidelines to maintain fat thickness between 1 cm and 1.5 cm to each workstation. A Porkville official stressed, "According to the manual, not only are areas with excessive fat trimmed, but excessive fat portions are also considered for disposal. We follow this manual and remove parts with excessive fat."

However, it is not easy to regulate small-scale processing facilities one by one, unlike these large processing plants. In response, the government took strong measures ahead of Samgyeopsal Day. After touring the market, Kim Jeong-wook, Director of Livestock Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, held a press briefing and said, "We are working closely with related industries on how to thoroughly manage samgyeopsal quality." Going forward, cooperation with relevant ministries and organizations will be strengthened to conduct frequent and regular inspections and guidance, focusing on ▲ trimming excessive fat ▲ banning deceptive sales ▲ strict management of online sales. Companies found lacking in inspections will face penalties, including exclusion from support projects such as operational and facility funding.