Division Sampling rules for poultry carcases and fresh poultry meatF1F2F3

Slaughterhouses shall sample whole poultry carcases with neck skin for Salmonella and Campylobacter analyses. Cutting and processing establishments other than those adjacent to a slaughterhouse cutting and processing meat received only from this slaughterhouse, shall also take samples for Salmonella analysis. When doing so, they shall give priority to whole poultry carcases with neck skin, if available, but ensuring that also poultry portions with skin and/or poultry portions without skin or with only a small amount of skin are covered, and that choice shall be risk-based.

Slaughterhouses shall include in their sampling plans poultry carcases from flocks with an unknown Salmonella status or with a status known to be positive for Salmonella Enteritidis or Salmonella Typhimurium .

When testing against the process hygiene criteria set out in Row 2.1.5 and Row 2.1.9 of Chapter 2 for Salmonella and Campylobacter in poultry carcases in slaughterhouses and the tests for Salmonella and Campylobacter are carried out in the same laboratory, neck skins from a minimum of 15 poultry carcases shall be sampled at random after chilling during each sampling session. Before examination, the neck skin samples from at least three poultry carcases from the same flock of origin shall be pooled into one sample of 26 g. Thus, the neck skin samples form 5 × 26 g final samples (26 g are needed to perform analyses for Salmonella and Campylobacter from one sample in parallel). The samples shall be kept after sampling and transported to the laboratory at a temperature not lower than 1 °C and not higher than 8 °C and the time between the sampling and the testing for Campylobacter shall be of less than 48 hours in order to ensure maintenance of sample integrity. Samples that have reached a temperature of 0 °C shall not be used to verify compliance with the Campylobacter criterion. The 5 × 26 g samples shall be used to verify the compliance with process hygiene criteria set out in Row 2.1.5 and Row 2.1.9 of Chapter 2 and the food safety criterion set out in Row 1.28 of Chapter 1. In order to prepare the initial suspension at the laboratory, the 26 g test portion shall be transferred to nine volumes (234 ml) buffered peptone water (BPW). The BPW shall be brought to room temperature before adding. The mixture shall be treated in a stomacher or pulsifier for approximately one minute. Foaming shall be avoided by removing the air from the stomacher bag as much as possible. 10 ml (~ 1 g) of this initial suspension shall be transferred to an empty sterile tube and 1 ml of the 10 ml shall be used for the enumeration of Campylobacter on selective plates. The rest of the initial suspension (250 ml ~ 25 g) shall be used for the detection of Salmonella .

When testing against the process hygiene criteria set out in Row 2.1.5 and Row 2.1.9 of Chapter 2 for Salmonella and Campylobacter in poultry carcases in slaughterhouses and the tests for Salmonella and Campylobacter are carried out in two different laboratories, neck skins from a minimum of 20 poultry carcases shall be sampled at random after chilling during each sampling session. Before examination, the neck skin samples from at least four poultry carcases from the same flock of origin shall be pooled into one sample of 35 g. Thus, the neck skin samples form 5 × 35 g samples, which in turn shall be split in order to obtain 5 × 25 g final samples (to be tested for Salmonella ) and 5 × 10 g final samples (to be tested for Campylobacter ). The samples shall be kept after sampling and transported to the laboratory at a temperature not lower than 1 °C and not higher than 8 °C and the time between the sampling and the testing for Campylobacter shall be of less than 48 hours in order to ensure maintenance of sample integrity. Samples that have reached a temperature of 0 °C shall not be used to verify compliance with the Campylobacter criterion. The 5 × 25 g samples shall be used to verify the compliance with process hygiene criteria set out in Row 2.1.5 of Chapter 2 and the food safety criterion set out in Row 1.28 of Chapter 1. The 5 × 10 g final samples shall be used to verify the compliance with the process hygiene criterion set out in Row 2.1.9 of Chapter 2.

For the Salmonella analyses for fresh poultry meat other than poultry carcases, five samples of at least 25 g of the same batch shall be collected. The sample taken from poultry portions with skin shall contain skin and a thin surface muscle slice in case the amount of skin is not sufficient to form a sample unit. The sample taken from poultry portions without skin or with only a small amount of skin shall contain a thin surface muscle slice or slices added to any skin present to make a sufficient sample unit. The slices of meat shall be taken in a way that includes as much as possible of the surface of the meat.