Sheep slaughter
There are typically two sheepmeat processing systems that are used frequently in the industry:
- Conventional dressing in which the carcase is hung by the hind legs and skin removal commences at the hindquarters and occurs tail to head; and
- Inverted dressing in which the carcase is hung by the forelegs and skin is mechanically pulled from head to tail.
Inverted dressing appears to produce carcases that are visually and microbiologically cleaner than carcases from conventional dressing systems. Inverted dressing systems are also more efficient in high throughput abattoirs and provide occupational health and safety benefits.
Disadvantages of some inverted dressing systems are that they may cause more urine spillage and a greater spread of spilled urine on a carcase, they may produce carcases with reduced visual quality because of blood spotting and they can damage skins and cause grain strain.
MLA's research and development activities into sheepmeat processing encompass the following: