NARMS Cooperative Agreement Program to Enhance and Strengthen Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance in Retail Food Specimens Agency Funding Opportunity Number: PA-20-124 Louisiana 7/1/2020-6/30/2021 Abstract This project will involve the successful completion of the purchasing, processing, and testing of 48 meat and seafood samples per month. ID Epi will identify, collect and process samples within the FDA's and NARMS time constraints. Three persons from ID Epi are dedicated to timely collections and submissions. The increase in and improved analysis of antimicrobial resistance data specific to Louisiana, will be scrutinized for trends and relationships, used to better inform the agency and the public, and studied to develop policies for mitigation and/or prevention. These activities will demonstrate the importance of the state health department in protecting and improving the public's health. The addition of additional target organisms and improvement of laboratory techniques, such as the extension of whole genome sequencing to additional organisms, will permit higher quality information and increased ability to identify related cases or outbreaks in the past, at present, and in the future. The program will facilitate coordination with FDA and other agencies in investigations of outbreaks. The program will also provide quality retail meat and seafood surveillance data the FDA NARMS program can use in addition to other states' data. This increase in quality data can be used to influence policy regarding antimicrobial use, resistance and trends in resistance.