WASHINGTON (AP) - Egg farms will undergo mandatory testing for salmonella bacteria about once a year under a plan worked out by consumer groups, producers and government regulators.

The plan, part of an agricultural spending bill awaiting final action in Congress, will establish the first nationwide pathogen testing standards for egg producers.

"This plan creates a level playing field that will require all producers to participate. We've never had that before," said Richard Wood, president of Food Animal Concerns Trust, which represented consumer groups in negotiations with the egg industry and the Food and Drug Administration. "It will really help consumer confidence as they sit down at the breakfast table."

The plan won't require producers to test as often as FDA had recommended, as much as four times a year. But producers agreed as part of the compromise to pay for the testing themselves rather than getting Congress to make FDA foot the bill.

Farms would have to be tested at least once during each flock's laying cycle, or about once a year.

If the bacteria, Salmonella enteritidis, are found around the farm, the eggs themselves would then have to be tested. Should the eggs test positive, they would have to be pasteurized or else broken and used in cooked, processed foods. Cooking would destroy the pathogen.

"All parties - government, industry and consumer groups - are benefitting by working together to bring this about," Ken Klippen, a spokesman for United Egg Producers, said Monday. "Everybody's goal is a safer food supply and we feel we will achieve it this way."

The negotiations started earlier this year after Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., inserted an amendment in the House version of the agricultural spending bill that would have required FDA to pay for the testing.

The administration's plan was designed to reduce salmonella cases by half in five years.

An estimated one in every 20,000 eggs is infected with salmonella, a significant source of food poisoning since the 1980s that can cause diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, headache, nausea and vomiting.

Salmonella illnesses associated with raw or undercooked eggs soared in the 1980s and 1990s, reaching a peak of 3.6 cases for every 100,000 people in 1996. The rate dropped to 2.2 cases per 100,000 people in 1998.

At the earliest, the testing program will take effect some time next year, because FDA still must write rules for implementing it.

Agency officials could not be reached for comment Monday, which was a government holiday.

United Egg Producers runs a voluntary quality assurance program that includes standards for sanitizing and testing procedures.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.