Guidance

Salmonella: get your broiler flock chickens tested

Find out when and how to take samples, and what happens if one of your flocks tests positive.

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Animal and Plant Health Agency
Published
8 February 2016

You must take samples and send them to a laboratory for testing if you have a broiler flock (a flock of chickens you rear for their meat). This is part of the national control programme (NCP) for salmonella, which aims to control salmonella in poultry flocks across the EU.

You must sample each of your flocks. A flock is a group of birds that shares the same air space, eg a chicken house or range area.

If you’re not sure if your birds are considered to be in one or more flock, you can ask for advice from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) in England, Scotland or Wales, or the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) in Northern Ireland.

When you don’t have to test a flock

You don’t have to have your flock tested if you:

  • farm fewer than 2,000 chickens
  • only produce meat for private use rather than for sale
  • only sell meat direct to consumers through farm gate sales or to local retailers that only supply consumers

Register your flocks before you get them tested

You must register each premises where you keep your flocks on one of the following:

When you must not sample

Avoid taking samples during or shortly after giving antimicrobials (antibiotics) that affect salmonella. APHA or DARD could declare your flock positive for salmonella if:

  • inspectors find from the flock medicine book that you’ve given antimicrobials
  • the laboratory tests find antimicrobials in samples taken by inspectors

Contact one of the following to find out when to test after giving antimicrobials:

  • the vet who prescribed the antimicrobials
  • APHA if you farm in England, Scotland or Wales
  • DARD if you farm in Northern Ireland

Paying for sampling equipment and tests

You need to buy your own sampling equipment. Contact one of the following to find out where:

You’ll also have to pay the laboratory charges for salmonella testing for your own samples and for official APHA or DARD samples. Contact DARD for details in Northern Ireland.

Official sampling at your premises

APHA or DARD officials will collect samples from:

  • 10% of holdings with more than 5,000 broiler birds - you’ll have to pay for these samples
  • all your flocks after your previous set of flocks tested positive
  • flocks where there’s no evidence of testing or where NCP rules haven’t been followed

Take samples from your flock

You must take samples from your flocks within a period of 3 weeks before the birds are slaughtered.

If you send part of a flock to slaughter and the sample date exceeds the 3 weeks, you must take another sample from the flock which is being sent to slaughter.

All birds must arrive at the slaughterhouse with the salmonella NCP test result and the date the sample was taken recorded in the Food Chain Information (FCI) documents accompanying the batch

You must make sure that all birds arrive at the slaughterhouse with the following recorded in the Food Chain Information (FCI) documents accompanying the batch to slaughter:

  • the NCP Salmonella test result, negative or positive
  • the date the sample was taken from the flock

Organic birds and birds over 81 days old

Contact APHA or DARD to find out if you can sample these birds up to 6 weeks before they are slaughtered.

What kind of samples you need to provide

You can provide samples from your flock in any of the following ways:

  • 2 pairs of boot swabs
  • one pair of boot swabs and 100g dust sample, or one hand-held dust swab
  • one or more hand-held faecal swabs, but only if you can’t use boot swabs and you have fewer than 2,000 chickens (birds) at the time of sampling

How to sample your flock

You’ll need to sample your flock in different ways depending on whether you’re taking a:

  • boot swab sample
  • dust sample
  • faecal swab

Prepare to take samples

Take samples in the existing bedding - don’t put new bedding down.

You should gather all the equipment you’re going to need before you go into the laying house to prevent contamination before, during and after sampling. Take care to avoid contamination if you keep other animals (especially pigs or cattle) on your premises.

To prevent disinfectant or sanitiser affecting your sample, you:

  • shouldn’t use hand sanitiser on your plastic gloves
  • should put on your plastic overboots after you’ve walked through disinfectant

If you do wear plastic overboots when you walk through disinfectant, you should put on another pair afterwards to protect the boot swabs from the disinfectant.

How to take boot swab samples

You should use:

  • disposable plastic overboots
  • 2 pairs of boot swabs
  • tap water or bottled still water for moistening boot swabs - never use sparkling water or water treated on the farm with antibacterial agents or acids
  • disposable plastic gloves
  • sealable bags or sample pots
  • packaging for sending your sample bags or pots to the laboratory

Sample only the inside of the house, even if you’re sampling free-range birds that spend part of the day outside. Avoid sampling areas just inside doors and pop holes, as they may have been contaminated by material from outdoors.

Take 2 pairs of boot swabs from each flock. Moisten the boot swabs with water before you take samples.

Divide the house into 2 equal parts for sampling, and use one pair of boot swabs in each part. Take at least 100 steps with each pair of boot swabs, walking round 50% of each part. Drag your feet on the floor to pick up as much material as possible. If the house is divided into several pens, spend more time in the larger pens and less in the smaller pens.

When you’ve finished sampling, take the boot swabs off and turn them inside out carefully so that the material you’ve collected stays on them. Put the boot swabs together in a sealable bag to send to the laboratory.

How to take dust samples

Choose from one of these ways of taking a dust sample:

  • collect 100 grams of dust from as many dusty surfaces as possible in the house and put it in a pot
  • use one or more moistened fabric swabs with a total surface area of at least 900 sq cm, put on new disposable gloves, and coat both sides of the swabs with dust collected from multiple places in the house

Avoid collecting dust from feeding systems.

You must package dust swabs separately from boot swabs.

Take faecal swabs

You should use:

  • new plastic gloves
  • 2 or more swabs with a surface area of 900 sq cms each, which you have moistened and opened out

Rub the swabs over several different areas where faeces has built up. Cover the whole of the front and back of the swabs in faeces. Seal the covered swabs in a bag.

Label samples

You must label each sample with a sample submission form that states:

  • the date you took the sample
  • your registration number or your County Parish Holding (CPH) number or DARD flock number
  • the identification of the flock - house name or number and the month and year you moved the flock into that house
  • the name and address of the flock’s holding
  • the age of the flock
  • the number of birds in the flock
  • the contact details of the person sending the sample

Send samples to a laboratory

You should send your samples on the day you collect them and make sure they’re delivered the next day. Refrigerate them at 4°C if you can’t send your samples on that same day. You must not freeze samples.

Make sure the testing laboratory begins to test your samples within 4 days of when you collected them, otherwise you’ll have to take new samples.

If the samples are not tested within 96 hours (4 days) you will have to take another set of samples.

You must send your salmonella NCP samples to a UK approved laboratory. Find laboratories approved by:

Get your test results

The laboratory usually sends the results to:

  • the person who sent the sample
  • the person the sampled flock is registered to
  • APHA or DARD if the sample tests positive for salmonella

If your samples test positive for salmonella

You must declare in the Food Chain Information (FCI) documents accompanying the batch to slaughter:

  • the NCP Salmonella test result, negative or positive
  • the date the sample was taken from the flock

This is a legal requirement and the birds may not be slaughtered if this information is not provided.

If your NCP sample result was positive for any salmonella serovar you should speak to your private veterinary surgeon. They can give you advice on effective farm management and hygiene (biosecurity measures) to prevent disease transmission on your farm.

You must clean and disinfect your holding if a sample tests positive for Salmonella Enteritidis or Salmonella Typhimurium (including monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium). A government vet may visit your holding to give you advice on salmonella control. In Northern Ireland, DARD will apply restrictions.

APHA or DARD will visit and collect samples from all the flocks in the next crop of birds on your premises.

If any of these official samples test positive, the flocks will be restricted and you’ll need a licence from APHA to move equipment, animals or animal products on or off your holding, including sending them to slaughter. In Northern Ireland, DARD will apply restrictions on each infected flock that will require a licence.

You’ll have to clean and disinfect the premises again, this time under APHA supervision, once the shed is empty after the birds have been sent to slaughter. In Northern Ireland DARD will supervise the swabbing.

APHA or DARD will take more samples after the supervised cleaning and disinfection. You’ll only be allowed to move equipment, animals or animal products freely (restrictions will be lifted) if they find salmonella has been removed from your holding,

If any of the post-cleaning samples test positive:

  • your flocks will remain under restriction
  • APHA or DARD will collect more official samples from your next set of flocks
  • you won’t be able to move equipment, animals or animal products onto or off your holding
  • you’ll have to carry out further cleaning and disinfection

APHA or DARD will revisit and collect samples from all the flocks in the next crop of birds on your premises.

You won’t have to pay for any samples or testing done by APHA or DARD because of a positive test result.

Keep records

Keep records for at least 2 years. APHA or DARD officials can check your records at any time, eg during a routine NCP visit or a visit after a positive test result.

Keep test records

For each test you must record the:

  • date you took the sample
  • the flock identification, which is the flock’s house name or number, and the month and year the flock moved into the house
  • type of sample, eg boot swab or dust sample
  • age of the flock
  • date you plan to have the flock slaughtered
  • laboratory that tested the sample
  • test result

Keep movement records

You need to record any movement of birds to or from your holding. For each movement record the:

  • date of movement
  • number of birds
  • age of the birds
  • house name or number, and the month and year the flock moved onto your holding
  • address that the birds moved from (including the building name or number)
  • address that the birds moved to (including the building name or number)

Food chain information documents

You must declare the flock’s most recent salmonella test result in the food chain information (FCI) documents that you send with the birds to slaughter if you market any meat from your birds as fresh meat.

You don’t have to declare the most recent salmonella test if you heat treat all the meat from the flock before marketing it for human consumption.

Declare salmonella test results

You must declare all the NCP Salmonella test results, negative or positive, as well as the date the sample was taken from the flock in the Food Chain Information (FCI) documents accompanying the batch to slaughter.

This is a legal requirement and the birds may not be slaughtered if this information is not provided.

Further information

Contact your nearest APHA office or DARD if you need more advice.

You can also read:

Updates to this page

Published 8 February 2016

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