§ 147.23 - Hatchery sanitation.

Link to an amendment published at 79 FR 38766, July 9, 2014.

An effective program for the prevention and control of Salmonella and other infections should include the following measures:

(a) An effective hatchery sanitation program should be designed and implemented.

(b) The hatchery building should be arranged so that separate rooms are provided for each of the four operations: Egg receiving, incubation and hatching, chick/poult processing, and egg tray and hatching basket washing. Traffic and airflow patterns in the hatchery should be from clean areas to dirty areas (i.e., from egg room to chick/poult processing rooms) and should avoid tracking from dirty areas back into clean areas.

(c) The hatchery rooms, and tables, racks, and other equipment in them should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected frequently. All hatchery wastes and offal should be burned or otherwise properly disposed of, and the containers used to remove such materials should be cleaned and sanitized after each use.

(d) The hatching compartments of incubators, including the hatching trays, should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected after each hatch.

(e) Only clean eggs should be used for hatching purposes.

(f) Only new or cleaned and disinfected egg cases should be used for transportation of hatching eggs. Soiled egg case fillers should be destroyed.

(g) Day-old chicks, poults, or other newly hatched poultry should be distributed in clean, new boxes and new chick papers. All crates and vehicles used for transporting birds should be cleaned and disinfected after each use.

[67 FR 8474, Feb. 25, 2002]