NARMS: Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Samples from South Dakota and North Dakota

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The objective of the FDA-NARMS cooperative agreement program (CAP) is to build a network of 30 laboratories distributed throughout the United States to determine the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among bacteria (Salmonella, Campylobacter, Aeromonas, Vibrio, E. coli, CPE, and enterococci) isolated from samples of chicken, ground turkey, ground beef, ground pork, tilapia, salmon and shrimp purchased from grocery stores. Our proposed portion of this CAP grant would be to collect retail meat and seafood samples from South Dakota and North Dakota grocery stores. Retail meat and seafood samples will be brought back to the Food Safety Microbiology (FSM) Laboratory in the Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (ADRDL) at South Dakota State University (SDSU). All samples will be tested for the presence of Salmonella, Campylobacter, Aeromonas, Vibrio, E. coli, CPE and Enterococci using established food safety analysis protocols. The microbes isolated from these food samples will be shipped to FDA-CVM for analysis of antibiotic resistance profiles. Isolates of Campylobacter, Salmonella, and E. coli from retail meats and Vibrio and Aeromonas from seafood will be sequenced onsite and uploaded to the FDA database utilizing existing GenomeTrakr methodologies. These results will be compiled by the FDA and distributed back to the FSM lab for dissemination to the Cooperative Extension Services, Consumers, and Producers.