Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Specimens

The National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) is a U.S. public health surveillance system that tracks antibiotic resistance in enteric bacteria from humans, retail meats, and food animals. When antimicrobial drugs are used in food-producing animals, they can enrich for populations of resistant strains that reach humans via the food supply. The chief goal of the NARMS retail food surveillance program is to improve the detection of and surveillance for antimicrobial resistance among enteric bacteria in raw retail food commodities, particularly fresh retail meat. The NARMS program is looking to collaborate with institutions or organizations to enhance and strengthen antibiotic resistance surveillance in retail food specimens. Partnering with the NARMS retail food surveillance program will enable the collection of critical data for FDA policy and regulatory actions including but not limited to pre-approval safety evaluation of new animal antibiotics, determining parameters for the antimicrobial use in veterinary medicine, and the ability to provide information to promote interventions to reduce resistance among foodborne bacteria. This collaboration will address NARMS programmatic needs to implement effective surveillance and response for antibiotic resistance as recommended in the National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (CARB).