VET-LIRN CAPACITY BUILDING FOR INCREASED SAMPLE ANALYSIS (U18)

Abstract:In 2007, some pets became ill and a few died as the result of consuming contaminated pet food. Aninvestigation revealed that the incident was due to melamine, an adulterant found in the contaminatedpet food. Melamine was also found in tainted animal feed that was used for farm animal and fish.Some food animals that ate the tainted feed were processed into human food (1, 2). This event hadmajor implications for animal and human health. In recognition of the event and its consequences, theCenter for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) sought out cooperative agreements with veterinary diagnosticlaboratories to enable analysis of animal diagnostic samples and animal food/drug products in theevent that laboratory surge capacity resulting from large-scale outbreak or threat incident is needed.Participating laboratories have increase surge capacity and have prepared for analysis related tomicrobiological or chemical contamination, either through intentional or unintentional means. Thisapplication is to continue the WVDL's commitment to this cooperative agreement. This consortium oflaboratories is useful for the detection and surveillance of animal feeds or other large-scale outbreaks,so as to halt an event early and reduce consequences. Therefore, the goal is for the CVM to establishrapid communication with veterinary diagnostic laboratories and increase the government's ability toexamine samples from animals adversely affected by contaminated or adulterated products.Examination of such samples can contribute to overall food safety as animal food events could signalpotential issues in the human food system. This will be achieved by institutional capacity building thatincludes methods standardization, training and proficiency testing of partner laboratories andinfrastructural enhancement through equipment and reagent purchase. The WVDL seeks to continueto participate in this project. The University of Wisconsin (UW)- Madison, Wisconsin VeterinaryDiagnostic Laboratory (WVDL) is fully accredited by the American Association of VeterinaryLaboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD), and thus, has the personnel with necessary experience,technical expertise and necessary infrastructure to accomplish the task described above with relativeease.