According to a report in Poultry Med, the Ministry of Agriculture in France has modified mandatory surveillance for Salmonella to recognize the protection afforded by vaccination.

Producers applying a comprehensive Salmonella vaccination program will be monitored by fecal swabbing, eliminating environmental testing. Non-vaccinated flocks will be subjected to current surveillance including environmental sampling.

The amended regulations were developed in collaboration with the statutory scientific authority-ANSES and with industry representation (CNPO).

It is noted that the 2010 FDA Final Rule on Salmonella ignored vaccination partly due to inherent ignorance among the framers of the regulation and exacerbated by their reluctance to consult with industry and state agencies. Effective EQAP programs antedated the FDA Final Rule by a few years and contributed to a sharp reduction in the incidence rate of Salmonella Enteritidis infection among consumers.

If at any time in the future FDA amends the Final Rule, vaccination should be an important consideration since virtually the entire industry adopted this modality since the availability of the gene-deleted Salmonella Typhinurium vaccine.

As a further consideration, FDA should consider swabbing the fan blades in power-ventilated houses since this is a more sensitive and less intrusive and laborious method of detecting SE than traditional drag swabs that were appropriate for high-rise houses in the 2000s but are less effective for manure belt batteries and litter housing.