On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, the butcher box their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments.

England as far back as 1272. Standards and practices of butchery differ between countries, regions and ethnic groups. Variation with respect to the types of animals that are butchered as well as the cuts and parts of the animal that are sold depends on the types of foods that are prepared by the butcher’s customers. Butchery is a traditional line of work. In the industrialized world, slaughterhouses use butchers to slaughter the animals, performing one or a few of the steps repeatedly as specialists on a semi automated disassembly line. In parts of the world, it is common for butchers to perform many or all of the butcher’s duties.

Where refrigeration is less common, these skills are required to sell the meat of slaughtered animals. Butcher’s shop”, “Butchery”, and “boucherie” redirect here. For the 1583 painting, see Butcher’s Shop. For the landform, see Mount Boucherie.

Boucherie du Bac, 82 Rue du Bac, Paris. In the United States and Canada, butcher shops have become less common because of the increasing popularity of supermarkets and warehouse clubs. Many remaining ones are aimed at Hispanic and other immigrants or, more recently, those looking for organic offerings. A primal cut is a piece of meat initially separated from the carcass during butchering. Different countries and cultures make these cuts in different ways, and primal cuts also differ between type of carcass. The British, American and French primal cuts all differ in some respects. In various periods and cultures, the term “butcher” has been applied to people who act cruelly to other human beings or slaughter them.