Foodborne diseases are major public health burden in the United States. This project will provide necessary infrastructure and surge capacity for microbiology testing in a food/drug emergency or an outbreak situation. The Tifton Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has the necessary infrastructure including a state of the art facility and qualified personnel, and is willing to meet the objectives of this RFA.
The objective this proposal is to provide infrastructure for sample analysis and surge capacity to the VetLRN in the event of animal food or drug related emergency or as needed by the VetLRN program. The funding will also be used for maintaining trained personnel and quality control procedures and for the proficiency testing procedures as appropriate.