Swabbing rules relaxed for mobiles

Lion code rules on salmonella swabbing for hens housed in mobiles have been changed in a move welcomed by BFREPA.

Producers who have birds housed in mobiles and which are single aged can now spread the required samples across the individual houses provided that the total flock is no more than 6,000 birds and the number of houses does not exceed six.

Details of the new procedure are contained in the latest version of the Lion code and in practice means that only 60 cloacal swabs need be taken if spread equally across the houses. Likewise, the 35 samples required from the house environment can be divided between the individual houses as can the 5 samples of ventilation dust, provided that at least one sample is taken from every house.

Previous versions of the Lion code insisted that producers with mobiles had to submit a full set of samples for every house, regardless of size, and led to BFREPA lobbying for a change to the rules.

“Not only was this unfairly penalising smaller producers but there seemed little justification from the point of view of salmonella monitoring,” said BFREPA chairman Tom Vesey.

“It seemed nonsensical that the producer with 2,000 birds housed in a number of mobiles was having to take several times more samples than a cage producer with, say, 100,000 birds in one house. We are delighted that the BEIC has taken on board our concerns and changed the rules.”

BFREPA member Peter Whitehouse last year spent £117 testing his 2,000 bird organic flock—four times what it would have cost if they had been in one house. And with the addition of another building this year he was facing the prospect of five lots of samples.

“It wasn’t just a case of the extra money,” said Peter. “Taking 240 cloacal swabs along with 160 environmental samples was no small task and I’m delighted to see that the BEIC has had a rethink.”