Hide cutting and skinning the chest end The hide cutting is – together with the detaching of the digestive tract – one of the most critical phases in terms of ensuring the hygienic quality of reindeer meat. Most often, contaminations result from these two work phases. The outer surface of the skin and hands, tools and equipment having touched the outer surface of the skin must not touch the carcass. This prevents the transfer of faecal, soil and skin bacteria to the carcass. Even though the hide looks clean, its outer surface is still heavily contaminated. The hands and knife are washed and the knife is switched in the sterilizer after each work phase. When the knife is not in use, it is kept in the sterilizer. The knife must never be placed on top of the carcass to avoid the transfer of the hide’s contaminants to the knife. In the process of hide cutting and skinning the chest end, the clean and sterile carcass is exposed to contaminants. Therefore, it is vital to make use of the ‘clean and dirty hand technique’ in the work phases. The so-called dirty hand touches the hair surface of the hide while the other hand stays clean the whole time. The hide hand must not touch the carcass.
LOWERING THE CARCASS ON THE SKINNING CRADLE The carcass is carefully lowered on the skinning cradle. Dropping the carcass may cause haematomas or break cell membranes and weaken the carcass quality. In addition, there is a risk of splashing. The skinning cradle must be positioned to a sufficient distance from other carcasses to make sure that the carcass being lowered does not make contact with another carcass that has already been skinned in part.
HIDE CUTTING The knife must always cut from inside to outside so that the contaminants of the skin and hair do not come in contact with the carcass. This technique also reduces cutting of hair and its access to the skinned surface.
Slaughter of reindeer in Finland
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