(a)

Sampling design:

When designing their sampling plan at slaughterhouse level for caecal content, Member States shall take into account EFSA technical specifications on randomised sampling for harmonised monitoring of antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic and commensal bacteria (1).

When designing their sampling plan at slaughterhouse level for nasal samples in fattening pigs, Member States shall take into account EFSA technical specifications for a baseline survey on the prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in pigs (2).

Member States shall ensure a proportionate stratified sampling of samples in slaughterhouses processing at least 60 % of the specific domestic animal population in the Member States with an even distribution over the monitoring period of the samples taken, and, to the extent possible, a randomisation of the sampling days of each month. The samples shall be taken from healthy animals sampled from randomly selected epidemiological units. The epidemiological unit for broilers and fattening turkeys shall be the flock. The epidemiological unit for fattening pigs and bovine animals under one year of age shall be the slaughter batch.

Only one caecal sample from the same epidemiological unit shall be taken per year. Each caecal sample shall be taken from one carcass randomly selected from the epidemiological unit. However, for broilers, each caecal sample shall be derived from ten carcasses randomly selected from the epidemiological unit.

Twenty nasal samples from twenty different pigs randomly selected from the same epidemiological unit shall be taken per year. These samples shall be pooled into four composite groups of five samples. If the epidemiological unit comprises less than twenty pigs, all the pigs of this epidemiological unit shall be sampled, and the resulting samples shall be pooled as evenly as possible to form the four composite groups of samples. The samples shall be taken after stunning of the pigs but before scalding of the carcasses.

The number of samples collected per slaughterhouse shall be proportional to the annual throughput of each slaughterhouse covered by the sampling plan.

(b)

Sampling size:

In order to test for antimicrobial susceptibility the required minimum number of bacterial isolates referred to in point 4.1, Member States shall take annually a sufficient number of samples referred to in point 1(a)(ii) and (iii), point 1(b), and point 1(c)(i) to (iv) by accounting for the estimated prevalence of the bacterial species monitored in the animal population considered.

By way of derogation from the first paragraph of this point, when the prevalence of the bacterial species monitored is known to be inferior or equal to 30 % in the animal population considered or when this prevalence is unknown in the first year of the monitoring or when the number of epidemiological units available for sampling is insufficient to prevent the repeated sampling of the same units, Member States may decide to limit to 300 the annual number of samples to be taken. This annual number can be further reduced to 150 for each specific combination of bacterial isolates/animal populations where Member States have an annual national production of less than 100 000 tonnes of broiler meat, less than 100 000 tonnes of turkey meat, less than 100 000 tonnes of pig meat or less than 50 000 tonnes of bovine meat. Member States making use of the possibility of limitation of the annual number of samples shall base their decision on documented evidence, such as results of surveys, and shall submit this evidence to the Commission before implementing the reduced sampling for the first time.

Member States shall take annually at least 300 samples from each animal population referred to in points 1(d)(i) to (iv). By way of derogation from that requirement, where Member States have an annual national production of less than 100 000 tonnes of broiler meat, less than 100 000 tonnes of turkey meat, less than 100 000 tonnes of pig meat or less than 50 000 tonnes of bovine meat, they may decide to take a minimum of 150 samples instead of 300 samples for each specific animal population considered.

Member States shall sample annually enough epidemiological units from the animal population referred to in point 1(f) to achieve an accurate estimation of the prevalence of MRSA in their domestic population of fattening pigs. To this end, they shall use the calculation formulae for the number of slaughter batches to be sampled as referred to in EFSA technical specifications for a baseline survey on the prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in pigs (3).’;