An Attempt to Establish a Modern Slaughterhouse in Istanbul During the Ottoman Period

Abstract

In Istanbul, the need for a slaughterhouse operating under scientific and modern methods reached its peak toward the end of the 19th century, leading numerous institutions to address such demand. Although there were already established slaughterhouses in various locations of the city at the time, the public health was in jeopardy as medical and scientific principles were not followed, and no pre or post-slaughter inspections of animals were carried out. Moreover, these slaughterhouses were not subject to appropriate taxes, resulting in government revenue loss. Furthermore, the “Şehremaneti” (Municipality) claimed that the slaughterhouses and livestock markets in their current form were generating unfair profits, causing the meat prices to spike without any precedence. Considering the reformation of current slaughterhouses a grueling task, the Şehremaneti launched a tender in 1911 for the construction of a public slaughterhouse and livestock market equipped with all the medical, scientific, and modern standards for use of all the inhabitants of Istanbul. A commission was appointed to determine the most suitable project and it was decided to grant the operating rights of the establishment for 40 years to the winning project in return for the construction of such establishment, as well as to allocate a certain share to the Şehremaneti from the revenues of the slaughterhouse and the livestock market. The present paper examines the efforts undertaken to build a slaughterhouse and a livestock market using Ottoman archival documents. The causes of the demand for such an establishment, the reports on the tender process, the reactions against the tender, and government institutions and industry leaders’ approach on the issue were identified through first-hand sources.