The plan, which will extend to broilers from 2009, aims to reduce the incidence of Salmonella specifically in breeding flocks.

The programme sets out measures to reduce the prevalence of salmonella enteritidis and typhimurium - the strains which pose the highest human health risk - to one per cent or less by 31 December 2011.

However, Britain is one of those leading the way, with its already comprehensive biosecurity and testing measures. Official tests found no S enteriditis and just one occurrence of S typhimurium out of 383 holdings sampled in 2005/06 - a prevalence of just 0.3%, according to Farmers Weekly Interactive.

"We've already got a good system that's working - this is a case of the EU taking good practice from us and rolling it out across the rest of the EU," says Jeremy Blackburn, executive officer at the British Poultry Council.