Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 19 October 2023 (request for a preliminary ruling from the College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven — Netherlands) — L. VOF v Minister van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit

(Case C-591/22, (1) L. (Gallus gallus))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Hygiene of foodstuffs - Reduction of salmonella in breeding flocks of Gallus gallus - Regulation (EU) No 200/2010 - Annex - Point 2.2.2.2(c) - Routine sampling - Positive result - Confirmatory sampling - Exceptional cases - Doubt as to the results - Scope)

(C/2023/1112)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: L. VOF

Defendant: Minister van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit

Operative part of the judgment

Point 2.2.2.2(c) of the annex to Commission Regulation (EU) No 200/2010 of 10 March 2010 implementing Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards a Union target for the reduction of the prevalence of Salmonella serotypes in adult breeding flocks of Gallus gallus, as amended by Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/268 of 15 February 2019,

must be interpreted as meaning that the situation of a holding of breeding flocks of Gallus gallus which has been tested by way of routine sampling, the results of which have revealed the presence of salmonella, may be regarded as falling within the concept of ‘exceptional cases where the competent authority has reason to question the results of the testing’, within the meaning of that provision, where the competent authority finds that events or incidents compromising the proper performance of the processes of sampling and analysis of the samples have occurred, or considers, in view of the level of excellence achieved by all of the conditions of the holding and in view of the epidemiological characteristics of salmonella, that there is a serious risk that such events or incidents have occurred.

The existence of several negative results for the type of salmonella detected, obtained from samples taken subsequently at the initiative of the operator concerned and reported to the competent authority after the latter has adopted a decision, and the fact that only some of the houses have produced positive results and that only one of the two samples taken per house has proved to be positive, do not constitute relevant circumstances in order to classify such a situation as falling within that concept. The vaccination status of the flock and the history of the holding as regards prevalence of the type of salmonella detected, where they are excellent, constitute circumstances to be taken into consideration for that purpose, but do not alone enable that situation to be classified as falling within that concept.

(1)   OJ C 472, 12.12.2022.