What is the food safety risk posed by AMR, now and in the future, and how can the FSA best monitor changing patterns of AMR risk and ensure that consumers and businesses understand what they can do to reduce risk?
Background
Foodborne disease (FBD) is a major public health risk with 2.4 million individual illnesses and more than 16,000 hospitalisations per year. It imposes an annual burden on society equivalent to £9.1 billion. The majority of human foodborne disease is caused by a handful of pathogens (including norovirus, campylobacter, salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and listeria) which, in most cases, enter the food chain from farmed animals or the environment.
In addition to FBD, the agri-food supply chain also poses a risk for the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Addressing the public health threat posed by AMR is an ongoing strategic priority for the UK and the Government has recently published its new 5-year AMR National Action Plan (NAP) 2024-29 (Opens in a new window), which sets out actions to slow the development and spread of AMR.
The overarching aim of this research priority is to provide evidence to enable the FSA to better control the spread of FBD and AMR within the food supply chain. For both threats, taking a ‘One Health’ approach is important, to understand the sources (e.g. livestock) and routes (e.g. food and environment) of infection and ultimately the impact (e.g. on humans).
As well as characterising new and emerging threats, we need to build our current understanding as to the attribution, prevalence, and nature of existing FBD and AMR risks, filling key evidence gaps which will support improved control measures and enhance food hygiene policy. We are also seeking to build capability in this area through development of new surveillance methods, which in turn can support the FSA’s work on trade and border inspections, as well as supporting broader disease and incident management.
Next steps
Get in touch: andrew.downie@food.gov.uk
Source
This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:
Topics
No topics assigned yet
Research fields
No research fields assigned yet
Related UKRI funded projects
-
BBSRC Institute Strategic Programme: Microbes and Food Safety Partner Grant
The Microbes and Food Safety (MFS) ISP will provide an understanding of how microbial threats, such as pathogens and spoilage-causing bacteria, evolve and interact to affect food safety and develop strategies to reduce t...
Funded by: BBSRC
Why might this be relevant?
The project addresses key food safety questions related to microbial threats, including AMR, in the food chain.
-
BBSRC Institute Strategic Programme: Microbes and Food Safety Partner Grant
The Microbes and Food Safety (MFS) ISP will provide an understanding of how microbial threats, such as pathogens and spoilage-causing bacteria, evolve and interact to affect food safety and develop strategies to reduce t...
Funded by: BBSRC
Why might this be relevant?
The project specifically focuses on microbial threats, including antimicrobial resistance (AMR), in the food chain and aims to improve food safety.
-
FightAMR: Novel global One Health surveillance approach to fight AMR using Artificial Intelligence and big data mining
Understanding the risk and direction of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) spread through food-borne routes, and developing of interventions to limit the spread of AMR within and between humans, animals, environment and food...
Funded by: MRC
Why might this be relevant?
The project focuses on understanding the risk and spread of AMR through food-borne routes, but does not specifically address how the FSA can monitor changing patterns of AMR risk.