How To...

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Monitor the Effectiveness of Cleaning and Disinfection after Depletion

Why monitor the effectiveness of cleaning and disinfection?• Monitoring the effectiveness of cleaning and disinfection

procedures will ensure that chicks are placed into a clean environment and remain healthy and productive through to depletion.

• Sampling the house for microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, yeast and mold) after cleaning and disinfection will provide trends that help to improve farm hygiene.

01 Why

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Procedure for monitoring the effectiveness of cleaning and disinfection

Monitoring should be done after the house has been disinfected and allowed to dry. Where fumigation is permitted, the house must be thoroughly ventilated and formalin levels must be below 2 ppm before anyone should enter the house for sampling. All personnel should shower and change into clean clothing and boots before entering the house to reduce the introduction of harmful bacteria.

Equipment1. Hat or hairnet

2. Clean clothing (coveralls / scrubs) and boots

3. Shoe / boot coverings

4. Gloves

5. Cotton swabs

6. Petrifilm

7. Tryptic Soy Agar (TSA) plates

HOW TO...P

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Monitor the Effectiveness of Cleaning and Disinfection after Depletion

03 Pro

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Procedure

HOW TO...

Step 1 Prepare to sample the house. Gather all necessary equipment into an easily accessible location and put on boot covers and gloves.

Step 2 Select areas for sampling. These should include:

• House surfaces (walls, floors, slats, etc.)

• Air inlets

• House equipment (fans, feeders, drinkers, egg belts, nest boxes, cool cells, etc.)

Step 3 Begin sampling the selected areas. Only personnel trained in monitoring procedures should be allowed to collect samples. Swabs and Petrifilm should only touch the area being sampled; improper handling can contaminate the sample collection.

MethodSampling Location

Sampling Area

Number of Samples per

HouseTarget

Petrifilm or

Cotton swabs

House surfaces, air inlets,

equipment,Feeding and

drinking lines, fan blades, nest boxes,

egg belts and cool cells

1 petrifilm [20 cm2

(3 in2) in each location]

1 cotton swab [10 cm x 15

cm (4-6 in) in each location

4 different locations for

petrifilm (4 petrifilms in

total)4 different

locations for cotton swabs

(4 cotton swabs in total)

Total Viable

Bacteria (cfu)

Boot covers

Floors and slats

Walk along floor / slats

4 Salmonella

Petrifilm can be applied directly to the surface, while cotton swabs should be rubbed along the sampling area and streaked onto Tryptic Soy Agar (TSA) plates. Boot covers will collect samples from the floors and slats as they are walked across.

Step 4 Once sampling has been completed, samples should be sent to the laboratory for analysis on the same day as sampling. If this is not possible, they should be placed in a refrigerator overnight so as not to promote premature bacterial growth.

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Step 1

Monitor the Effectiveness of Cleaning and Disinfection after Depletion

Step 3

04

Interpreting resultsCleaning and disinfection programs can vary from farm to farm and each location should develop their own bacterial limit standards. However, in some instances, local legislation may provide details concerning acceptable bacterial counts. In any case, no Salmonella species should be isolated.

• Monitoring samples are within acceptable bacterial limits and no Salmonella has been detected.

√ No action required.

• Monitoring samples are higher than the acceptable bacterial limits and / or Salmonella has been detected.

√ Action required.

√ Re-clean and disinfect the house until laboratory results show that the bacterial counts are within limits and no Salmonella is isolated.

Inte

rpre

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Res

ults

HOW TO...

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Monitor the Effectiveness of Cleaning and Disinfection after Depletion