Division 2.2.1 General instructions for sampling

The competent authority or the food business operator shall ensure that samples are taken by persons trained for that purpose.

At least two pairs of boot swabs shall be taken for sampling. Boot swabs are put on the boots and the sample is taken by walking around in the poultry house. Swabs from one flock of broilers may be pooled into one sample.

Before putting on the boot swabs, their surface shall be moistened by:

1. (a)

   the application of maximum recovery diluents (MRD: 0,8 % sodium chloride, 0,1 % peptone in sterile deionised water);

2. (b)

   the application of sterile water;

3. (c)

   the application of any other diluents approved by the F1... reference laboratory referred to in Article 11 (3) of Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003; or

4. (d)

   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 100g 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.