Detection and surveillance of antimicrobial resistance among enteric bacteria from raw retail meat and seafood in Iowa: A NARMS Retail Food Surveillance Project

Iowa State University, Ames IA

Investigators

Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract 1 Detection and surveillance of antimicrobial resistance among enteric bacteria from raw 2 retail meat and seafood in Iowa: A NARMS Retail Food Surveillance Project 3 Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is considered a silent pandemic threatening the well-being of 4 humans, animals, and the environment. Robust and comprehensive surveillance systems 5 embracing the “One Health” approach are necessary for effectively combatting AMR. In the 6 United States, the retail arm of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System 7 (NARMS) under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) performs surveillance of AMR in 8 select enteric bacteria (Salmonella, Campylobacter, Enterococcus and Escherichia coli) from 9 retail raw meat (chicken, turkey, beef, and pork) across the nation. In addition, surveillance of 10 AMR in retail seafood (tilapia, shrimp, salmon) for select bacteria (e.g., Vibrio, Aeromonas, 11 Enterococcus) is also included. The NARMS program has contributed significantly to 12 monitoring the sources and trends of AMR in the food chain. To enhance the effort on combating 13 AMR, FDA launched a cooperative agreement program to expand the NARMS surveillance 14 network throughout the U.S in 2016. Under the initiative, Iowa State University (ISU) became a 15 NARMS network laboratory in late 2016. Since then, the ISU site has contributed substantially 16 to strengthening the capacity and effectiveness of the national AMR surveillance program in 17 retail food. In this application, we propose to continue the collaborative partnership with 18 NARMS to address the updated goals of the Retail Food Surveillance Program as described in 19 FON PAR-25-014 “NARMS Cooperative Agreement Program to Strengthen Antibiotic 20 Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Specimens”. Specifically, we will continue to collect and 21 process raw meat and seafood samples from grocery stores in Iowa and culture them for isolation 22 of bacteria of interest as defined by NARMS, and ship the isolates to FDA on a monthly basis. In 23 addition, we will continue to perform whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of Salmonella, 24 Campylobacter and E. coli from meat samples (and start WGS of select isolates from seafood) 25 and submit sequences to the NCBI per GenomeTrakr guidelines. This application is built on 26 existing experience and is a natural extension of our current effort with NARMS. Trained 27 personnel and infrastructure required for successful performance of the planned work are already 28 in place. We strongly believe that ISU’s continued participation in this collaborative network 29 will contribute significantly to mitigation of AMR in the food chain and ultimately to the 30 enhancement of food safety and public health.