Well you don't want to change the properties of the hide or meat (steamed beef is ick). Maybe just a soapy solution and a rinse? Regular soap/detergent can reduce quite a bit of dirt and germs. I do agree about the anti-bacterials. We really need to reduce our use of them and antibiotics, especially in the food industries.

Emilyiniowa

An Iowan should know animal carcasses have been scalded for centuries, especially pork.

How the meat and hide are affected depends on how long you scald them. Adding soap would help, but a HOT solution works better, (yes, there ARE studies).

I didn't know that, but I'm not a native Iowan (I do however come from a college with a leading agricultural program and I used to work for the USDA, but alas, I focused on research biology and not applied agriculture) Thanks for correcting me :) I guess either would work then or a combined system. In either case, anti-bacterials need to be reduced if we want any to work when it's really needed.

Still, I would think cleaning the carcass before skinning (assuming the same method of cleaning) in addition to afterward (I assume they are just adding on to procedure and not replacing yes?) is a good procedure as it reduces chances of contamination. Plus, if we are selecting for super-bugs, it's probably better to knock-off as many as possible then to just take out the wimpy ones as it will reduce overall load of pathogens as analogous to taking the full treatment of antibiotics then just enough to feel better (a guess again, I don't really know in this particular case).