3.LABORATORY ANALYSESU.K.
3.1. Preparation of the samples U.K.
At the laboratory samples shall be kept refrigerated until examination, which shall be started within 48 hours following receipt and within 96 hours after sampling.
The pair(s) of boot/sock swabs shall be carefully unpacked to avoid dislodging adherent faecal material, pooled and placed in 225 ml buffered peptone water (BPW) which has been pre-warmed to room temperature. The boot/sock swabs shall be fully immersed in BPW and therefore more BPW may be added if necessary.
The dust sample shall preferably be analysed separately. However for fattening flocks, the competent authority may decide to allow it to be pooled with the pair of boot/sock swabs for analysis.
The sample shall be swirled to fully saturate it and culture shall be continued by using the detection method set out in point 3.2.
Other samples (e.g. from breeding flocks or hatcheries) shall be prepared in accordance with point 2.2.2 of the Annex to Regulation (EU) No 200/2010.
If standards of European Committee for Standardisation (‘CEN’) or the International Organisation for Standardisation (‘ISO’) on the preparation of faeces for the detection of Salmonella are agreed on, they shall be applied and replace the provisions on the preparation of samples set out in this point.
3.2. Detection method U.K.
The detection method recommended by the EU reference laboratory for Salmonella in Bilthoven, the Netherlands, shall be used.
That method is described in the Annex D to EN/ISO 6579 (2002): ‘Detection of Salmonella spp. in animal faeces and in samples of the primary production stage’.
In that detection method, a semi-solid medium (modified semi-solid Rappaport-Vassiliadis medium, MSRV) is used as the single selective enrichment medium.
3.3. Serotyping U.K.
For breeding flocks of turkeys, at least one isolate from each positive sample shall be serotyped, following the White-Kauffmann-Le Minor scheme.
For fattening flocks of turkeys, at least one isolate from each positive sample taken by the competent authority shall be serotyped, following the White-Kauffmann-Le Minor scheme.
Food business operators shall at least ensure that for all isolates none of them belong to the serotypes Salmonella Enteritidis or Salmonella Typhimurium including monophasic strains with the antigenic formula 1,4,[5],12:i:-.
3.4. Alternative methods U.K.
With regard to samples taken on the initiative of the food business operator, the methods of analysis provided for in Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council(1), may be used instead of the methods for the preparation of samples, detection method and serotyping provided for in points 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 of this Annex, if validated in accordance with EN/ISO 16140.
3.5. Storage of strains U.K.
Laboratories shall ensure that at least one isolated strain of Salmonella spp. per flock and per year can be collected by the competent authority and stored for possible future phage typing or anti-microbial susceptibility testing, using the normal methods for culture collection, which must ensure integrity of the strains for a minimum of two years from the date of analysis.
The competent authority may decide that isolates of Salmonella spp. from sampling by food business operators shall also be stored for future phagetyping or antimicrobial susceptibility testing to provide for isolates to be tested in accordance with Article 2 of Commission Decision 2007/407/EC(2).