Objectives, sampling frame, diagnostic testing methods, as well as data collection, evaluation, reporting and timelines of the baseline survey are all specified in Commission Decisions 2006/668/EC[2] and 2007/219/EC[3] concerning a baseline survey on the prevalence of Salmonella in slaughter pigs.

Pigs were randomly selected from those slaughterhouses that together account for 80% of the pigs slaughtered within each Member State. All participating Member States (and Norway) sampled lymph nodes from the selected slaughtered pigs. The lymph node results reflect the Salmonella infection status of the pigs. Moreover, 13 Member States additionally sampled pigs’ carcasses by swabbing in order to define the external contamination risk of carcasses.