{"id":198,"date":"2026-02-06T21:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T21:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stories.j-proj.com\/foodbeets\/?page_id=198"},"modified":"2026-02-27T20:58:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T20:58:02","slug":"how-its-made","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stories.j-proj.com\/foodbeets\/how-its-made\/","title":{"rendered":"How its Made"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Farm<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Process<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Savage & Fils\u00a0Abattoir\u00a0is a slaughterhouse\u00a0in St.\u00a0Albert, Ont.,\u00a0that has been in business for 90 years. The\u00a0current manager is Maxime Savage, who works with his son, Zachary.\u00a0Savage’s\u00a0great-grandfather\u00a0founded the abattoir.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Today, the\u00a0father-son duo\u00a0still\u00a0processes\u00a0beef from farmers in their community. But\u00a0government involvement is a frustration for Savage & Fils. Because of different inspection practices and interprovincial trade regulations, the abattoir is not allowed to sell to Quebec.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cBecause of the government, we\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0sell\u00a0to Quebec and vice versa. In Ontario, our inspection is\u00a0way harder\u00a0and by law, if\u00a0someone in Quebec left their beef here, by the letter of the law, it\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0go anywhere,\u201d said Savage.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Abattoirs are businesses\u00a0that\u00a0rely\u00a0on farmers, and farmers rely on them\u00a0to process the cows they raise.\u00a0\u00a0They are an essential step in the food production chain, and the job is as interesting as the meat is tasty.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The first thing abattoirs do is get the animals from the farmers they work with. This is a process at Savage & Fils that is scheduled far in advance. Savage explained that orders need to be\u00a0placed\u00a0at least a year in advance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cWhen I first started here with my dad, we were working\u00a0seven to seven, eight to four on Saturday, making crazy hours in January, and there was nothing to be done for work,\u201d said Savage.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cBut then I told my dad,\u00a0maybe we\u00a0should just spread the word all year long. So, the next thing you know,\u00a0we’re\u00a0booking a year ahead. We are planning our vacation accordingly because when\u00a0we’re\u00a0missing one guy,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a lot.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Once the cows are in the abattoir, they are killed and then butchered into what the order demands. The order is shipped to a grocery store or another more specialized butcher.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Savage & Fils processes over 600 cows a year; their days are full of killing, cutting, and packaging meat from farmers and getting it to the stores.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Left to right: Mathieu Lafleche, Maxime Savage and Zachary Savage operate Savage & Fils Abattoir in St. Albert.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Savage loves what he does, but he admits that the work\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0for everyone. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0hard work. We work eight-hour days, and you know, not everyone is comfortable being around death like that,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Savage\u00a0added that\u00a0<\/span>the industry is struggling<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to replace\u00a0the main workforce of abattoirs\u00a0as\u00a0workers\u00a0approach retirement\u00a0age.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

He says youth are more interested in professional trades like electrician work and plumbing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThey’re going to make 40-45 bucks an hour, and you come here,\u00a0you’re\u00a0never going to get that kind of money.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Despite the challenges,\u00a0Savage\u00a0and\u00a0his son\u00a0Zachary are in good spirits about their work and what they do. They take pride in providing their community with food and continuing the tradition of being a family that feeds their neighbors.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Farm The Process The Table \u00a0 Savage & Fils\u00a0Abattoir\u00a0is a slaughterhouse\u00a0in St.\u00a0Albert, Ont.,\u00a0that has been in business for 90 years. The\u00a0current manager is Maxime Savage, who works with his son, Zachary.\u00a0Savage’s\u00a0great-grandfather\u00a0founded the abattoir.\u00a0 Today, the\u00a0father-son duo\u00a0still\u00a0processes\u00a0beef from farmers in their community. But\u00a0government involvement is a frustration for Savage & Fils. Because of different inspection […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-198","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.j-proj.com\/foodbeets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.j-proj.com\/foodbeets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.j-proj.com\/foodbeets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.j-proj.com\/foodbeets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.j-proj.com\/foodbeets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/stories.j-proj.com\/foodbeets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":467,"href":"https:\/\/stories.j-proj.com\/foodbeets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/198\/revisions\/467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.j-proj.com\/foodbeets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}