XtraBlatt Issue 02-2020

TITLE THEME
METZGERSCHLACHTHOF FÜRTH
REGIONAL FROM
CONVICTION
Planning the shortest possible transport distance for meat
is no mere passing fad for this Fürth butchery business. It’s a
deliberate strategy. Here we meet Konrad Ammon jn, master
butcher and managing director of the family business, to discuss
his interesting concept.
Konrad Ammon jn is a self-employed
master butcher and managing director
of the Metzger Schlachthof Betriebs
GmbH in Fürth.
The meat sector stands – as so often – under criticism.
But this time the subject is neither animal welfare
nor hygiene. Instead, it’s the massively increased COV-
ID-19 infection rate amongst workers in a number of large
slaughter companies. Main causes were unsuitable working
conditions and crowded employee accommodation. Both
factors arise directly from the predominating structure of
the industry where workers are mainly subcontracted.
Behind the change in the meat branch that brought today’s
huge company facilities was an originally very commendable
idea: improvement of hygiene in slaughter, jointing and
further processing. However, the EU certification procedure
involved meant hurdles that proved too high for many
smaller businesses. Often, existing buildings made meeting
the regulations impossible and unviable financially. The
result: many butchers gave-up slaughtering, buying their
meat as carcass halves or in other portions from the bigger
slaughter businesses. The municipal slaughterhouses, that
in the past were to be found in nearly every town or city as
part of the fundamental regional facilities, were gradually
closed down for the same reasons.
VACCINE PRODUCTION
This was the fate also faced by the slaughterhouse in Fürth: a
facility, the opening of which way back in 1881, represented
an important milestone in the community’s history, bringing
substantial relief to the citizens of Fürth. Up until then, there
were numerous smaller slaughter facilities that brought with
them problems of noise and odours, not to mention suspect
hygiene. The town butchers were initially sceptical of the
new municipal slaughterhouse. After all, it left them with
just one supply point for their meat. They even boycotted
the opening ceremony and instead, the meat workers’ guild
rather provocatively arranged a day trip to nearby Würzburg.
Gradually, however, butchers came to see the advantages
and the Fürth town slaughterhouse began to flourish. As its
throughput approached full capacity a fusion with nearby
Nürnberg and the building of new facilities were briefly
considered, although nothing transpired. In 1918, before the
end of WW I, the slaughterhouse was extended. In WW II
facilities were partly destroyed with makeshift adjustments
keeping production going. Following the country’s monetary
reform, the town council found it couldn’t finance a new
building. But hope for better production conditions arose
through a partnership with pharmaceutical manufacturer
Behring that was producing a foot-and-mouth vaccine from
deliberately infected cattle in a purpose-built isolation
station, a station which also featured a slaughterhouse. A
cooperation with this slaughterhouse proved very profitable
and incidentally attracted support from state subsidies,
cash that was also invested in the facilities so that by the
1960s Fürth had one of the most modern slaughterhouses
in Germany.
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