§ 118.6 Egg testing for Salmonella Enteritidis (SE).

(a)(1) If the environmental test for pullets at 14 to 16 weeks of age required by § 118.4(a) is positive, you must divert eggs to treatment (defined in § 118.3) for the life of any flock or conduct egg testing within 2 weeks of the start of egg laying, as specified in paragraphs (b) through (e) of this section. (2) If you have an SE-positive environmental test at any time during the life of a flock, you must divert eggs to treatment (defined in § 118.3) for the life of the flock in that positive poultry house or conduct egg testing as specified in paragraphs (b) through (e) of this section. (b) Eggs must be sampled as described in § 118.7 and tested using methodology as described in § 118.8. (c) You must conduct four egg tests, using sampling and methodology in §§ 118.7 and 118.8, on the flock in the positive poultry house at 2-week intervals. If all four tests are negative for SE, you are not required to do further egg testing. (d) If any of the four egg tests is positive for SE, you must divert, upon receiving notification of an SE-positive egg test, all eggs from that flock to treatment (defined in § 118.3) until the conditions of paragraph (c) of this section are met. (e) If you have a positive egg test in a flock and divert eggs from that flock and later meet the negative test result requirements described in paragraph (c) of this section and return to table egg production, you must conduct one egg test per month on that flock, using sampling and methodology in §§ 118.7 and 118.8, for the life of the flock. (1) If all the monthly egg tests in paragraph (e) of this section are negative for SE, you may continue to supply eggs to the table market. (2) If any of the monthly egg tests in paragraph (e) of this section is positive for SE, you must divert eggs from the positive flock to treatment for the life of the flock or until the conditions of paragraph (c) of this section are met. (f) If you are diverting eggs, the pallet, case, or other shipping container must be labeled and all documents accompanying the shipment must contain the following statement: “Federal law requires that these eggs must be treated to achieve at least a 5-log destruction of Salmonella Enteritidis or processed as egg products in accordance with the Egg Products Inspection Act, 21 CFR 118.6(f).” The statement must be legible and conspicuous.