Meat market

Inside the Smithfield Meat Market in London.

A meat market is, traditionally, a marketplace where meat is sold, often by a butcher. It is a specialized wet market. The term is sometimes used to refer to a meat retail store or butcher's shop, in particular in North America.

Overview of meat trade

A butcher specializes in the preparation and sale of meat. Butchers sometimes operate specialized shops selling meat, known as butcher's shops, meat stores, meat markets or butcheries. Meat may also be sold in supermarkets, grocery stores, and fish markets, and these shops may employ a butcher.

A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility that specializes in killing animals for meat. A meat cutter prepares primal cuts of meat into smaller portions for retail sale.

Examples

View of the interior of historic Ponce meat market just before opening time

• London wholesale meat markets:

• Leadenhall Market
• Smithfield Market (began as a livestock market, but became a meat, poultry and fish market)

• Melbourne

• Metropolitan Meat Market
• Queen Victoria Market

• Plaza Juan Ponce de León meat market, Puerto Rico
• The Shambles (Medieval meat markets in York, Stroud and Shepton Mallet)

References