Narms Surveillance of Antibiotic Resistance in Retail Meat in Southern California

Currently there is little data regarding levels of antibiotic resistance for bacteria isolated fromraw meat sold in retail stores from metropolitan Southern California. In order to enhance theantibiotic resistance surveillance data for the National Antimicrobial Resistance MonitoringSystem (NARMS), the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security (WIFSS) and School ofVeterinary Medicine (SVM) at UC Davis propose a collaboration with FDA to survey antibioticresistance of bacteria isolated from retail meat in the Greater Los Angeles Area (LA). Thisobjective will be achieved by undertaking three specific aims. First, retail chicken, groundturkey, ground beef, and pork chops will be purchased monthly from retail stores in fourgeographical regions with different population demographics (East LA, Ontario, West LA,Irvine). Meat samples will be transported under refrigeration to the UC Davis WIFSS laboratorywhere isolation of Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli and Enterococcus will be conductedaccording to NARMS Retail Meat Surveillance Laboratory Protocol. Confirmed isolates ofSalmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli and Enterococcus will be shipped to FDA-Center forVeterinary Medicine (CVM) monthly. Second, we will create a database of bacterial antibioticresistance in retail meat to better link our results to farm antibiotic resistance surveillancerequired by Senate Bill-27 as part of California?s effort to promote prudent antibiotic use andreduce antibiotic resistance at the farm level. The database will include prevalence of the fourbacteria species for each type of meat, serotypes of Salmonella, patterns of bacterial antibioticresistance and sample information (retail location and zip code, source and brand of meat,processor, packaging, etc.). Linking this new database to NARMS?s existing databases willexpand NARMS? meat surveillance and facilitate high-dimensional analysis with respect totracing foodborne pathogens and antibiotic resistance from farms to retail store outlets. Our thirdaim is to enhance collaborations among federal, state and academic stakeholders with respect tofoodborne disease surveillance and outbreak investigation. Collaborating partners in this projectinclude FDA-CVM, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), the CaliforniaDepartment of Public Health (CDPH), and UC Davis WIFSS and SVM. By accomplishing thesespecific outcomes the NARMS system will further expand its surveillance of antibiotic resistantbacteria in retail meat and facilitate collaboration among federal and state agencies and academiain detection, surveillance, and investigation of foodborne outbreaks associated with antibioticresistance.