Three different systems for decontaminating lamb carcasses immediately post-mortem were investigated; steam condensation, hot water immersion and chlorinated hot water immersion. All treatments were applied 50 min post-mortem. All three treatments significantly reduced aerobic plate counts (APC) on the carcasses in comparison with untreated controls. Overall the chlorinated hot water treatment reduced counts by 1.6 log(10) colony forming unit per centimetre square (cfu cm(-2)). There was no significant difference between the steam and hot water treatments with both treatments reducing counts by approximately 1 log(10) cfu cm(-2). No significant differences (P > 0.05) were found in the subjective evaluation of lean appearance, colour appearance, odour, and overall acceptability between treated and untreated carcasses after 48 h of chilling and chilled storage. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.