| Summary: | To provide meat safety and consumer protection, appropriate hygiene control measures at an abattoir are required. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of visual fecal contamination level (VFCL) and lairage time (LT) on pig skin (PS) and external (ECS) and internal (ICS) carcass surfaces. The presence of <i>Enterobacteriaceae</i>, <i>Escherichia coli</i> (<i>E. coli</i>) and <i>Salmonella</i> in PS, ECS, and ICS were evaluated. A total of 300 paired samples were collected from 100 pigs. Results underlined the importance of the skin (<i>Enterobacteriaceae</i>: 3.27 ± 0.68 log CFU/cm<sup>2</sup>; <i>E. coli</i>: 3.15 ± 0.63 log CFU/cm<sup>2</sup>; <i>Salmonella</i>: 21% of samples) as a direct or indirect source of carcass contamination. Although VFCL revealed no significant effect (<i>p</i> > 0.05), the increase of LT had a significant impact (<i>p</i> < 0.001) on <i>Enterobacteriaceae</i> and <i>E. coli</i> levels across all analysed surfaces, and <i>Salmonella</i> presence on ICS (<i>p</i> < 0.01), demanding attention to LT. Also, the ICS showed a higher level of these bacteria compared to ECS. These results highlight the need of food business operators to consider ICS as an alternative area to sample for <i>Salmonella</i>, as a criterion for process hygiene based on EC Regulation No. 2073/2005, and as a potential contamination source to be integrated in the hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) plans.
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