Massachusetts NARMS Cooperative Agreement Program to Strengthen Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Specimens

The Massachusetts State Public Health Laboratory (MASPHL) is requesting funding from PAR- 25-014 NARMS Cooperative Agreement Program to Enhance and Strengthen Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Specimens to support laboratory capacity and testing costs with the goal of monitoring antimicrobial resistance among enteric bacteria in raw retail meat and seafood. MA participation promotes and protects public health by contributing to the understanding of the burden of antibiotic-resistant pathogens in our nation's food supply. MASPHL has the capacity and capability to meet all deliverables outlined in the cooperative agreement. The Food Laboratory within the Division of Microbiology at MASPHL, is fully staffed by six full time analysts. Analysts will schedule surveillance testing and collect retail meat and seafood samples at least twice per month on non-consecutive days from pre-determined locations. Analysts have access to reimbursed personal transportation and also use of state vehicles to ensure timely delivery of samples under proper transport conditions. Upon sample receipt at MASPHL, standardized microbiological testing will be performed by trained and competent analysts in a fully equipped Food testing laboratory. MASPHL ensures quality laboratory test results by performing testing methods accredited to the ISO 17025 standard (or equivalent). Isolated pathogens will be extracted in the MASPHL Molecular Microbiology Laboratory in accordance with validated PulseNet extraction protocols. Extracted nucleic acid meeting quality control metrics will then be submitted to the Division of Sequencing and Bioinformatics Core for Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) and analysis. Sequences that pass QC will be uploaded with associated metadata to NCBI following the NARMS WGS Performance Guidelines. MASPHL will contribute data generated from surveillance testing to include organism identification and characterization, including speciation and serotype, retail location and food packaging information as well as WGS data. Bacterial isolates recovered from food samples will be submitted to FDA each month through the MASPHL Division of Central Laboratory Support Services, which is fully staffed and ready to support isolate submission. MASPHL will actively participate in NARMS conference call and working groups to obtain program updates and maintain compliance.