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BACKGROUND: With initiatives such as the National Strategy to Combat Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (CARB), FSIS has strengthened its role in the oversight of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through increased engagement with public health and agriculture partners. This presentation will describe actions that FSIS is taking as part of the Federal government’s strategy to strengthen the Nation’s ability to combat AMR, including plans for future activities in collaboration with local, State and Federal partners.
METHODS: As a key collaborator in the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS), FSIS partners with USDA agencies, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor, characterize, and identify trends associated with AMR bacteria. FSIS contributes to NARMS by analyzing meat and poultry samples collected at processing plants for AMR to compare with other animal and human samples. In 2013, in collaboration with FDA, FSIS initiated the NARMS cecal sampling program to gain insight into the presence of AMR organisms in food animals. This sampling program exists alongside FSIS’ Pathogen Reduction/ Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (PR/HACCP) program, which is a source of NARMS data for Salmonella and Campylobacterisolates collected at processing. In this presentation, FSIS NARMS results will be described by production class, percent positive, antimicrobial resistance, patterns of resistance, and seasonal distribution.
RESULTS: Results of FSIS’ 2014 NARMS sampling will be described to attendees. The National Strategy for CARB, released by President Obama in September 2014, summarizes activities and articulates the United States Government vision for an integrated plan which will facilitate USDA efforts to address AMR. USDA's activities related to AMR focus on surveillance, research and development, and education, extension and outreach. These activities help to determine patterns of antibiotic use in food producing animals; monitor antibiotic drug susceptibilities in food animals, meat and poultry; and develop mitigations to reduce AMR associated with food producing animals and their production environments.
CONCLUSIONS: Ongoing analysis of isolates collected through the FSIS PR/HACCP program and the NARMS cecal sampling program enable FSIS to assess how patterns of AMR in food animals compare with patterns associated with public health events. FSIS promotes a One Health approach by using its data at various phases of food processing to fill information gaps and hopefully strengthen our understanding about associations between food and public safety.