A decontamination trial on the effectiveness of hot water and acidified sodium chlorite (SANOVA™) treatment on TVC, E. coli and Salmonella spp. was undertaken on a total of 852 pork carcases prior to primary chilling in two pork abattoirs in Australia using belly-strip excision sampling. Test pigs were selected from herds with a known high level of on-fam1 Salmonella infection. For control carcases at Abattoirs A and B, mean log10 Total Viable Count was 4.06 and 3.00 cfu/gram compared with 1.81 and 2. 09 cfu/gram, for hot water and 2. 76 and 2.53 cfu/gram for SAN OVA ™ treated carcases, respectively