Of the 156 scalding water samples, 60 originated from abattoir A (15 per scalding tank), 81 from abattoir B (line 1: 12 per scalding tank; line 2: 15 per scalding tank) and 15 from abattoir C. Sampling comprised five sampling days at each abattoir and scalding water samples were collected in the morning, at midday and in the afternoon.