USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Veterinary Services (VS) has developed guidance on risk-based sampling and pooling of samples for specific pathogen testing for official L. vannamei health inspections. Testing of L. vannamei for health status or trade has become overly expensive because of the numerous pathogens of concern and total reliance on molecular techniques, such as PCR. Further, many of the current assays being used are not validated nor is the impact of pooling of animals or tissues known. In effort to minimize the cost of testing, as well as to improve testing consistency and accuracy, APHIS has developed guidance in partnership with industry and laboratory partners. This guidance provides criteria for representative sampling of premises or populations adequately and pooling of tissues or animals at different life stages.