Off the Beaten Path - Uruguay Travel Guide

Its in Fray Bentos, about 4 hours by bus outside Montevideo. Its not to be missed if you care about animal liberation, or you just want to see how all of this occurred up close. It is now marketed as a Museum of the Industrial Revolution...which is true enough.

THe slaughterhouse was opened in the 1860s, and eventually experienced huge booms as a result of the Boer War, as well as WW I and II. Surely Fray Bentos was modeled after the industrial abattoirs in Chicago and the like...the stuff that made up Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.

But no where I know in the world, today, can you visit such a place that is no longer in operation. (Of course, slaughterhouses are still to be found very commonly, and ought to be visited by anyone who still eats meat and poultry!) Its ironic that this huge killing complex was to be established in a town named afetr a reclusive monk--Fray (Friar) Bentos.

I went in Aug. 2005, just shortly after it opened. Much is well preserved, such as the company offices and the huge harbor sign that reads, ANGLO. The tour guide will point out the tinning rooms, and the packaging rooms, and the refrigerator areas.

But I had to press to see the killing floors. The numerous school tours that come through are not shown, alas, the rooms where the slaughter occured.

We were permitted to see one of them...the ramps where a Judas animal (in some cases) led the rest to their deaths...the stalls for the cattle where men stood, hour after hour swinging sledgehammers...the wheel for the pigs and sheep, where their legs were hoisted in the air and their throats slit...you get the idea.

Our tour guide became quite animated once we reached the killing rooms. She said--When the work was at its busiest, metaphorically interesting at times of European war, when the work went on without stop day in day out, the workers just took a break by sitting on their haunches and closing their eyes. One can only imagine the bedlam--the noise of the animal agony, the smell, the blood all over the floors...and yet, somehow, the workers could find peace sufficient for a nap.

The town itself I found rather ordinary. It is on the water. Argentina is just across the river.

Here is some background detail:

The original company--Liebig Extract of Meat Company--produced a molasses-like black spread packaged in an opaque white glass bottle, which contained only reduced meat stock and salt (4%). It takes 3 kg of meat to make 100 g of extract. It was promoted in Europe as being invaluable not only as a supplement for the malnourished but also in the kitchen. The product enjoyed an immense rise in popularity. By 1875, 500 tons of the extract were being produced at Fray Bentos plant each year. It became a staple in middle-class European households and for soldiers, including the Allied forces of World War II. It was even used by European adventurers such as Sir Henry Morton Stanley on his trip to Africa. It is still sold by Liebig Benelux.

In 1873, Liebig's began producing tinned corned beef, sold under the label Fray Bentos. Later, freezer units were installed, enabling the company to also export frozen and chilled raw meat.

The works and yards at Fray Bentos ranked among the largest industrial complexes in South America and helped usher in the industrial revolution there. The plant played a major role in the development of Uruguay's cattle sector, which is still one of the country's main sources of export products. It attracted many European immigrants and, in its heyday, had 5,000 employees. It is said that an animal was processed every five minutes. Every part of the animal was used...but the squeal (to paraphrase Sinclair).

Off the Beaten Path in Uruguay

Uruguay Off the Beaten Path

Visiting Uruguay?

Visiting Uruguay?