Abdominal cavity

The hollow space inside the abdomen containing the stomach, intestines, liver and other viscera. At slaughter, opening this cavity — evisceration — is the moment of highest contamination risk on the line, because a nicked gut spills bacteria across the carcass. Everything about the procedure is engineered to prevent that: trained operators, specific knife work, inspection of the opened cavity and trimming of any soiled tissue. Several offal products are harvested directly from it, which is why offal handling carries its own hygiene rules. The abdominal cavity is where slaughter hygiene is won or lost.