AIC Member Contribution to PATH-SAFE: Surveillance Outcomes
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published a summary of the outcomes from the Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food, and the Environment programme (PATH-SAFE) to which AIC and its Members contributed as part of one of the workstreams.
The PATH-SAFE programme was a four-year, £24 million cross-government initiative led by the FSA. Running from 2021 to 2025, it aimed to modernise the UK’s bio-surveillance systems by using genomic sequencing and environmental sampling to detect foodborne pathogens and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) across the agri-food chain.
In 2022, AIC was approached by FSA, Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) to explore the feasibility of collecting feed samples for investigation of potential transmission of antimicrobial resistance via imported feed materials.
The outcome was the collection of over 600 samples of feed materials and compound feeds (both heat-treated and non-heat treated) to establish the prevalence of Salmonella species and antimicrobial resistance in animal feed. The outcome of this analysis will form the basis of a peer- reviewed academic paper, and it has already influenced policy and surveillance priorities, summarised by the following statement:
“PATH-SAFE provided data on AMR risk from imported livestock feed, which plugged an information gap. Risk of AMR was estimated to be low, which helped inform decisions to de-prioritise animal feed as a surveillance metric for the time being.”
More specifically the feed project concluded that:
“Animal feed [is] unlikely to be a major or direct source of this AMR for livestock, which showed higher figures in the UK Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance and Sales Surveillance (VARSS) reports”
AIC would like to thank the Members who were involved in the project which has resulted in this important outcome for the UK feed industry.
The full report can be read at the UK government’s website here.
Author
Simon Williams
Simon Williams is Technical Manager for AIC Services. He is based at AIC Head Office, Peterborough and is responsible for the management and coordination of the FEMAS and UFAS assurance schemes as well as being the key contact for mutual recognition with European scheme owners and managing Earned Recognition relationships with UK feed and food competent authorities.
