meat-packing

The preparation of meat for consumption, and for transportation over long distances. The industry depends on refrigeration, which was invented in 1861.

The first commercial use of frozen meat was in a shipment from the USA to London in 1874. Frozen meat was first dispatched from Argentina to London in 1878, and from Australia in 1879. Chicago had the world's largest meat-packing plants until the stockyards closed in 1971.