The History of Meat Trading

Authors: Derrick Rixson
Throughout history, the development of the meat trade has been dependent upon and interrelated with the social, commercial and economic development of the community at large.

This fascinating book, of equal interest to those involved in the meat and associated industries and to social historians, traces the history of man in respect of the utilisation and consumption of meat. It considers the progress towards the domestication of meat animals after the last ice age and the importance of domestic animals for their meat and other products in the development of the early civilisations, and looks at the part played by the meat trade in relation to the growth of urbanisation and the marketing structures that emerged.

"The History of Meat Trading is both a useful learning tool and a fascinating read." Meat International

"an interesting read - or history - of community and social developments as a whole and many a non-meat person will find the work absorbing." Meat Training Council Newsletter

Availability: In Print
Publication date: 2001
Binding: Paperback
Extent: 407 pp.
ISBN: 1-897676-31-X

Book Contents

The Palaeolithic origins of butchery
From hunter-gatherers to farmers
The earliest civilisations
Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire
Meat trading in the Anglo-Saxon period
The Middle Ages trading boom
The rise of the Guilds Merchant and Craft Guilds
A profile of the urban meat trade
Markets and fairs
Statutory and other controls of meat trading
The standing of the Guilds and their function
Meat consumers and meat consumption
Meat supplies and marketing
Developments in livestock farming
Slaughter of butchers' animals
Meat preservation
Trade in livestock
Smithfield: livestock market to meat market
Shipping live animals for slaughter
Trade in carcass meat
The changing nature of the meat trade during the 19th Century
Meat inspection and the sale of unfit meat
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
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