sampling of flocks of fattening and breeding turkeys shall take place within three weeks before slaughter. The competent authority may authorise sampling in the last six weeks prior to the date of slaughter in case the turkeys are either kept more than 100 days or fall under organic turkey production according to Commission Regulation (EC) No 889/2008(1);
sampling of flocks of breeding turkeys shall take place:
in rearing flocks: at day-old, at four weeks of age and two weeks before moving to the laying phase or laying unit,
in adult flocks: at least every third week during the laying period at the holding or at the hatchery,
on the holding in the case of flocks of breeding turkeys laying hatching eggs intended for the trade within the Union.
The competent authority may decide to implement one of the options referred to in the second indent of point (ii) to the whole testing scheme for all flocks. However, sampling of breeding flocks laying hatching eggs intended for the trade within the Union must take place on the holding.
By way of derogation from the second indent of point (ii), if the Union target has been achieved for at least two consecutive calendar years in the whole Member State, sampling at the holding may be extended to take place every four weeks, at the discretion of the competent authority. However, the competent authority may decide to keep or revert to a three-week testing interval in the case of detection of the presence of the relevant Salmonella serotypes in a breeding flock on the holding and/or in any other case deemed appropriate by the competent authority.
sampling of flocks of breeding turkeys:
once a year, all flocks with at least 250 adult breeding turkeys between 30 and 45 weeks of age and all holdings with elite, great grand parents and grand parent breeding turkeys; the competent authority may decide that this sampling may also take place at the hatchery; and
all flocks on holdings in case of detection of Salmonella Enteritidis or Salmonella Typhimurium from samples taken at the hatchery by food business operators or within the frame of official controls, to investigate the origin of infection;
sampling of flocks of fattening turkeys shall be done once a year, at least in one flock on 10 % of the holdings with at least 500 fattening turkeys;
sampling may be done on a risk basis and additionally each time the competent authority considers it necessary;
a sampling carried out by the competent authority may replace the sampling by the food business operator as referred to in point (a).
The competent authority or the food business operator shall ensure that samples are taken by persons trained for that purpose.
Sampling of flocks of breeding turkeys shall be done in accordance with point 2.2 of the Annex to Commission Regulation (EU) No 200/2010(2).
For sampling of flocks of fattening turkeys at least two pairs of boot swabs shall be taken per flock. Boot swabs are put on the boots and the sample is taken by walking around in the poultry house. Swabs from one flock of turkeys may be pooled into one sample.
Before putting on the boot swabs, their surface shall be moistened by:
the application of maximum recovery diluents (MRD: 0,8 % sodium chloride, 0,1 % peptone in sterile deionised water); or
the application of sterile water; or
the application of any other diluents approved by the national reference laboratory referred to in Article 11(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003; or
being autoclaved in a container together with diluents.
The way to moisten boot swabs shall be to pour the liquid inside before putting them on or to shake them in a container of diluent.
It shall be ensured that all sections in a house are represented in the sampling in a proportionate way. Each pair of boot swabs must cover about 50 % of the area of the house.
On completion of sampling, the swabs shall be carefully removed from the boots so as not to dislodge adherent material. Boot swabs may be inverted to retain material. They shall be placed in a bag or pot and labelled.
The competent authority may decide to increase the minimum number of samples in order to ensure representative sampling on a case-by-case evaluation of epidemiological parameters, such as biosecurity conditions, the distribution or size of the flock.
If the competent authority approves one pair of boot swabs may be replaced by a dust sample of 100 g collected from multiple places throughout the house from surfaces with visible presence of dust. As an alternative, one or several moistened fabric swab(s) of a combined surface of at least 900 cm2 may be used to gather dust from multiple surfaces throughout the house. Each swab shall be well coated with dust on both sides.
The competent authority shall satisfy itself by conducting further tests and/or documentary checks as appropriate to verify that results are not altered through the presence of antimicrobials or other substances inhibiting the growth of bacteria.
Where the presence of Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium is not detected but antimicrobials or bacterial growth inhibitory effects are detected, the flock shall be considered to be an infected flock of turkeys for the purpose of the Union target referred to in Article 1(2).
Samples shall be sent without undue delay either by via express mail or courier, to the laboratories referred to in Articles 11 and 12 of Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003. During transport they shall be protected from heat over 25 °C and exposure to sunlight.
Where it is not possible to send the samples within 24 hours from the time of sampling they shall be stored refrigerated.