# NARMS Cooperative Agreement Program to Strengthen Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Specimens (U01) Clinical Trials Not Allowed

> **NIH FDA U01** · TENNESSEE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH · 2021 · $187,000

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) is a long-term participant and leader in the
National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System Retail Food Surveillance (RFS)
program. TDH feels that the expansion of the retail food arm of NARMS is critical step in
conducting surveillance for antimicrobial resistance (AR) in the food chain and for
monitoring the impact of recent national initiatives including important regulatory
changes in the use of antimicrobials in food animals. Use of antimicrobials in food
animal production creates selective pressure that enables antimicrobial resistant
bacteria to matriculate into the food supply and ultimately cause human infections. Of
concern, antibiotic resistant infections are accompanied by more severe illnesses, more
deaths, higher healthcare costs, and increased harm to society. We feel that
surveillance is critical “data-for-action” to not only understand the sources of AR and
multi-drug resistance (MDR) in the food supply chain but to combat this public health
problem. Tennessee embraces the goal of the NARMS food surveillance program to
improve the detection of and surveillance for AR among enteric bacteria in raw retail
food commodities through this cooperative funding agreement (FOA # PAR-20-124,
CFDA # 93.876). Tennessee will participate fully in all project components including
purchase of approved meats and seafood, testing by NARMS protocols, shipment of
isolates and meta data, and continued activity in the NARMS working groups.
Additionally, Tennessee anticipates participating in any future pilot activity or expansion
to other commodities. Tennessee capacity for testing food has translated to increased
ability to assess isolates and their link to human clusters, as well as more proficiency in
testing food during outbreaks and quickly characterizing the AR properties to inform the
public heath investigation. Tennessee will participate fully in all NARMS RFS activities
and follow the accepted protocols during the 5 year period. Our strategy include: 1.
Maintain sampling and reporting with a continuous quality improvement paradigm in
RFS. 2. Foster partnership among Tennessee, federal, state, local, and external
partners. 3. Enhance outbreak investigation response and reporting. 4. Sustain and
enhance NARMS laboratory diagnostic capacity. 6.Improve laboratory coordination,
outreach, and information flow. 7. Maintain and exchange integrated surveillance
information system. Tennessee’s expectations and outcomes, strategies and activities,
and collaborative activities will continue throughout the 5 year period with continued
funding. We hope our response to this FOA will be favorably considered.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10247561
- **Project number:** 5U01FD007159-02
- **Recipient organization:** TENNESSEE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** Samir Hanna
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** FDA
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $187,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10247561

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10247561, NARMS Cooperative Agreement Program to Strengthen Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Specimens (U01) Clinical Trials Not Allowed (5U01FD007159-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10247561. Licensed CC0.

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