FDA NARMS Cooperative Agreement Program to Strengthen Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Specimans

Project Summary – Missouri State Public Health Laboratory (MSPHL)
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), Missouri State Public Health
Laboratory (MSPHL) proposes to support the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring
System (NARMS) Retail Meat Surveillance Program by continuing its current sampling of retail
meats and testing for Salmonella and Campylobacter, Enterococcus, Aeromonas, Vibrio and
other lactose positive bacteria. Sampling and testing will be performed as directed in the
NARMS Retail Meat Surveillance Laboratory Protocol, including Whole Genome Sequencing and
uploading of the data. Specifically, enhanced sampling consisting of eighty retail meat samples
will be collected in the mid-Missouri area and tested monthly. The MSPHL will ship all isolates
to the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) monthly, and perform monthly sample and
testing data exchange with NARMS using the electronic log sheets provided by NARMS. Data
will be shared with Missouri DHSS and local public health epidemiology programs. Outcomes
include the testing of 960 retail meat samples annually, which will lead to increased numbers of
isolates submitted; improved data quality, sample diversity and timeliness of isolate and data
submissions. In addition, the sharing and review of testing and antimicrobial data will be used
by epidemiology programs to detect food borne disease outbreaks and coordinate
investigations; educate DHSS administrators, local public health officials and the general public
on current and emerging health hazards; support food safety program awareness of
antimicrobial resistance among the public; analyze for trends to inform DHSS management and
assist with policy development; and data will be used by the laboratory to assess accuracy of
testing results and quality assurance practices.
Page 1 of 1