When it comes to effectively cleaning the hide after slaughter and before opening the carcass, particularly during mud and manure season, the meat industry has a tough battle on its hands.
Not only must industry ensure that hides are clean, it also needs to keep hide quality as high as possible to ensure maximum yield.
A variety of strategies are being tested in the never-ending quest to create cleaner hides. Some of these strategies were covered during the 1993 annual meeting of the U.S. Hide, Skin and Leather Association.
When asked what are some common methods currently being used by packers, association President Jerry Breiter had a simple answer.
"Very frankly, there aren't any," Breiter explained. "The hide is a valuable by-product. But some packers try to avoid any expense that doesn't involve meat."
What's new?
One high-tech approach to the problem is a dehairing process based on spraying the animal with a chemical depilatory agent prior to opening the carcass. After letting the agent soak for 90 seconds, the carcass is hosed down thus removing the hair.
"You have a couple of advantages here," Breiter pointed out. "First, you minimize the potential for [carcass] contamination from a dirty hide. The second advantage is that you will have a hide where you can see all defects, and you can get better grading and sorting of [the hide].
"Monfort [Inc.] is looking at this dehairing process, which would solve a lot of problems," he added. "They also look at this dehairing process as a potential marketing advantage."
Many technical and regulatory issues must first be worked out before a depilatory approach to dealing with mud, manure and associated zero- tolerance problems is fully feasible, according to an AMI report.
Another method being considered is a belly claw scraper, which resembles a rake, Breiter noted. Since the belly area holds great potential for contamination, such a method could be of great interest to packers.
But while the method is effective in removing much of the mud and manure from the belly and leg areas, it also pulls out belly hair, which results in grain damage to the hide.
And external filth is on all parts of the carcass; the belly claw scraper can do nothing for the sides and butts of carcasses.
Another process being considered involves a high-pressure blow-off of mud and manure with a soda blaster. "It's basically a jet of air that acts like a sand blaster, only it's using soda," Breiter pointed out. "Soda is soluble; it's basically an abrasive."
Work on the blaster technique to date has not been able to get past the limitations of higher-than-acceptable risks of serious hide damage when everything doesn't go just right. "With improvements, this approach might one day be economically feasible," according to AMI.
Work in the area of cleaner hides is also being done at the low-tech end.
Some packers are attacking mud and manure with a weed-eater. Under the right circumstances of scale and line speed, even this innovative approach could provide an effective solution.
Can suppliers of sanitizing agents and sanitizing equipment be of help in this battle to create cleaner hides?
"If they can come up with something that is going to clean the animal and not do any harm-or at least minimal harm-to the hide, somebody out there might make some money," Breiter stressed.
With the growing emphasis on meat safety in the United States, and the never-ending quest for improving the bottom line, more packers will get involved in research on how to best clean and sanitize hides.