EU audit finds salmonella controls lacking

The implementation of the Salmonella national control programme for laying hens and broilers is “not yet satisfactory” according to the European Commission’s watchdog on veterinary issues.

An audit report by the Food and Veterinary Office based on inspections carried out in Malta last May, shows that controls in this sector are unsatisfactory due to deficiencies in the taking of samples for the disease and because of a lack of a vaccination programme.

To date, there has only been one confirmed case of Salmonella Enteritidis (a form of salmonella transmitted from eggs) in laying hens. But the report questions the way this case was dealt with by the Maltese authorities.

The disease was found in faecal samples taken in July 2009. Samples were taken again in all three houses on the holding in November 2009, when 15 samples of faeces and six samples of dust were taken. In one house Salmonella Enteridis was again found.

In December 2009 the second re-sampling of 4,000 eggs was carried out, this time with negative results. But due to the limited capacity of the laboratory not all eggs were sampled and tested the same day.

In January 2010 faecal and dust samples were taken on the same holding and Salmonella Enteritidis was found in both faecal and dust samples.

According to the report this kind of sampling is not in line with regulations which specify that only sampling is only repeated once to exclude false-positive initial results. The report notes that official restrictions on the holding were only issued in April 2010.

The Audit Team was satisfied with the level of training given to the to the sampling staff by the National Veterinary Laboratory.

But it expressed disappointment that the implementation of Salmonella National Control Programme for laying hens only began in June 2009, instead of at the beginning of 2008 as required by EU regulations.

The Audit Team was told that this delay was due to the unforeseen absence of the person responsible for the programme.

There was no evidence that rearing flocks were tested as day-old chicks which is another EU requirement.

In the results of three holdings checked by the Audit Team, no samples were taken from pullets (young female hens) were not sampled. In a further two holdings checked by the audit team, the sampling was carried out with incorrect timing, for example at the age of two and half, three and eight weeks instead of two weeks.

In three out of four adult laying hen holdings not all houses were sampled in June 2009. In two out of four holdings an inadequate number of samples was taken (one faecal sample instead of two).

The report confirms that no vaccinations had been applied in the laying hen farms visited by the audit team. According to the report this is not in line with EU requirements, that indicate that vaccination programmes against Salmonella Enteritidis will be applied by all member states as long as they did not demonstrate a prevalence of salmonella below 10%.

“However, in Malta the prevalence was over 10%, and the lack of vaccination was not based on the above EU requirements for possible derogation,” the report notes.

Deficiencies in broilers

The report also identified deficiencies in the sampling for salmonella fo rbroilers.

In two out of four holdings not all houses were sampled. In one farm an insufficient number of samples was taken. The laboratory staff noted this non-compliance but sampling was not taken again.

The Audit Team reviewed sampling in four holdings with more than one house and noted that all pairs of boot swabs taken in different houses were pooled in the laboratory and analysed as one sample, in breach of regulations which requires that only swabs from one house are pooled into one sample.

There was only one confirmed case of Salmonella Typhimurium in broilers. However this positive flock was still slaughtered because of a delay in delivering the information to the farmer and to the official veterinarian in the slaughter house.

According to the report the insufficient number of samples and the incorrect sampling undermines the reliability of Salmonella testing results.

Establishments like slaughterhouses, cutting plants and poultry meat establishments were found to be broadly in compliance with EU requirements. However in some cases the Audit Team found non-compliance related to maintenance in the form of cracked floors, and rusty overhead structures. In another case liver was stored in stagnant dirty water. Some of these deficiencies had not been recorded in the official control visit reports.

In one slaughterhouse visited no chemical analysis for water from an internal source was carried out and no enforcement action had been taken by the government. In its reply to the report, the Maltese government replied that this particular shortcoming has also been noted and corrective action has been taken.

Official response

In its response to the report the Maltese government claims that it has also rectified irregularities related to the sampling of day-old chicks and pullets which are now in line with EU regulations.

As from October 2010 the frequency of sampling for broilers was rectified to ensure that all flocks of birds are tested. The government is also considering vaccination programmes even if it insists that the positivity for Salmonella is less than 10%. Broiler poultry farms are visited five times a year whilst layer farms are visited every 15 weeks.

The shortcomings related to chemical analysis of waters in one specific establishment have also been noted and corrective action has been issued. The verification of this corrective action is in process. According to government the references by the Audit Team regarding poor maintenance in some plants were based on restricted areas of the plants visited, however the corrective actions requested are being followed.