Schematic Diagram of Sheep Slaughter

Sheep Slaughter Process:

Step 1: Slaughter Waiting Room

1.1.Once trucks arrive at the processing plant, please observe all sheep before unloading. If no abnormality is found, then ask for the certificate of conformity, which is issued by the animal epidemic prevention supervision agency of the place of origin. Only when the certificate matches the goods, the trucks are allowed to be unloaded.

1.2. Count the number, pat the healthy sheep into the slaughter waiting room, and manage the sheep according to their health status. The area of the slaughter waiting room is designed according to 0.6-0.8m² per sheep.

For example, for 500 sheep, the area of the slaughter waiting room should be 300-400m²

500*0.6/0.8=300/400m²

1.3. The sheep should be stopped eating and rest for 24 hours before being sent to slaughter. In order to eliminate fatigue during transportation and restore a normal physiological state. During the rest period, the quarantine staff will observe regularly and send the suspicious sheep to the isolation stall for observation. Once found the confirmed sick ones, will send to the emergency slaughter room for treatment. The healthy and qualified sheep will be stopped drinking water 3 hours before slaughter.

Step 2: Killing and Bloodletting

2.1.Horizontal Bloodletting: Use a V-shaped conveyor to transport the live sheep to the slaughterhouse. During transportation, numb them with a hand-held numb appliance, then kill on the table.

2.2. Handstand Bloodletting: The live sheep is tied to its back leg with a bleeding chain, lifted into the track of the sheep bleeding automatic conveying line through a hoist or lifting device, and then kill with a knife.

The distance between the track of sheep bloodletting automatic conveying line and the floor of the workshop should not be more than 2700mm. The main processes completed on this line are hanging, (killing), bleeding, cutting off the head, etc.

The bloodletting time is generally designed as 5 minutes.

Step 3: Pre Peeling

3.1. Upside-down pre Peeling: Spread the two back legs of the sheep with a fork to facilitate the pre-peeling of the front legs, back legs, and breast.

3.2. Balanced pre peeling: The hook of the bloodletting/pre-stripping automatic conveyor line hooks one back leg of the sheep, and the hook of the automatic skin removal conveyor line hooks the two front legs of the sheep (same speed of the two lines). Then the belly of the sheep is facing up, the back is facing down, and the sheep are moving forward in balance. Pre peeling during the conveying process. This method can effectively control the wool sticking to the carcass during the peeling process.

3.3. Clamp the sheep’s skin with the skin clamping device, and pull the whole sheep’s skin from the back legs to the front legs. According to the slaughtering process, the whole sheepskin can also be pulled from the front legs to the rear legs.

3.4. The sheepskin is transported to the sheepskin temporary storage room through a conveyor or air conveying system.

Step 4: Carcass Process

4.1. Carcass processing procedures: breast opening, white viscera removal, red viscera removal, carcass inspection, carcass trimming, etc., are all completed on the automatic carcass processing conveyor line.

4.2. After cutting open the sheep’s chest, remove the white internal organs, namely the intestines and stomach. Putting them into the tray of the synchronous sanitation inspection line to be inspected.

4.3.Taking out of red internal organs, namely heart, liver, and lung. Putting them into the tray of the synchronous sanitation inspection line to be inspected.

4.4. The sheep carcass is trimmed, and then it enters the track electronic scale for weighing. Grade and seal according to the weighing results.

Step 5: Synchronous Health Inspection

5.1. Sheep carcass, white viscera, and red viscera are transported to the inspection area for sampling inspection through the synchronous sanitary inspection line.

5.2. The suspicious diseased carcass that fails to pass the inspection shall enter the suspicious diseased carcass track for re-inspection. Confirm that the sick carcass enters the sick track line, put it into a closed vehicle, and pull it out of the slaughtering workshop for treatment.

5.3. The unqualified white viscera shall be taken out from the tray of the synchronous sanitary inspection line, put into a closed vehicle, and pulled out of the slaughtering workshop for treatment.

5.4. The unqualified red viscera shall be taken out from the tray of the synchronous sanitary inspection line, put into a closed vehicle, and pulled out of the slaughtering workshop for treatment.

5.5. The red viscera hooks and white viscera trays on the synchronous health inspection line are automatically cleaned and disinfected by cold-hot-cold water.

Step 6: By-product Processing

6.1. The qualified white viscera enter the processing room through the chute. The contents in the stomach and intestine are poured into the air conveying tank and fill compressed air to transport through the air conveying pipe to about 50 meters away from the slaughterhouse. The stomach will be processed by a washing machine. Pack the cleaned intestines and stomach into cold storage or fresh-keeping warehouse.

6.2. Qualified red viscera enter the red viscera processing room through the chute. Cleaning the heart, liver, and lung, sort and package them into cold storage or fresh-keeping storage.

Step 7: Carcass Acid Excretion

7.1. The trimmed and washed sheep carcass is put into the acid drainage room for “acid drainage”. This is an important link in the cold segmentation of mutton.

7.2. Temperature of the acid excretion room is 0-4℃, and the time shall not exceed 16 hours.

7.3. The designed height of the acid excretion track from the floor of the acid discharge room is not less than 2200mm, and the track spacing is 600-800mm. 5-8 sheep carcasses can be hung per meter of track.

Step 8: Deboning, Cutting, and Packaging

8.1. Hanging Deboning: Push the sheep carcass(hanging) after acid excretion to the bone removal area. The bone removal personnel will cut and put the large meat on the segmentation conveyor and automatically transfer it to the segmentation personnel, then they will divide it into various parts.

8.2. Chopping Board Deboning: Put the sheep carcass on the chopping Board for deboning and cutting.

8.3. After vacuum packaging, the segmented meat shall be put into the freezing tray and pushed to the freezing warehouse (- 30℃) with a cold meat trolley or to the finished product cooling room (0-4℃).

8.4. Pack the frozen products and store them in the refrigerator (- 18℃).

8.5. Temperature of the bone removal and segmentation room is 10-15℃, the temperature of the packaging room should be below 10℃.