The USDA has selected Texas Tech University’s International Center for Food Industry Excellence to act as a surveillance lab for the agency’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System. The School will receive $700,000 to participate in the program, reports The Washington Times.

The federal money will be used to monitor beef, pork and poultry products for pathogens and antibiotic resistance as part of the FDA’s retail meat surveillance program.

"We are honored to have been selected as a surveillance site by the program," said Mindy Brashears, a professor in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences and director of ICFIE. "Our experience in food safety and antibiotic resistance monitoring in the meat industry helped us to obtain the funding, which will have a long term impact on public health. We look forward to working with NARMS to identify sources of antibiotic resistance and in assisting with outbreak investigations if necessary."

NARMS was established in 1996 and collaborates with state and local public health departments, the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to promote and protect public health.

Source: The Washington Times, Texas Tech University