Application Title: Enhancement of California's Integrated Food Safety and Security System Project title: Enhancement of California's GenomeTrakr Capacity and Capabilities The California Department of Health, Food and Drug Laboratory Branch (FDLB) is the State food testing laboratory which serves as the primary servicing laboratory for the State of California?s manufactured food regulatory program (MFRP) for microbiological and chemical analyses. FDLB is enrolled through the Food and Drug Branch in the food safety inspection contract with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the MFRP. The goal of this proposal is to maintain and enhance the whole genome sequencing (WGS) capacity and capability in the State of California. FDLB will enhance the GenomeTrakr network by capturing the current and evolving genomic diversity of non-clinical pathogens across FDA-relevant areas in human or animal food, environmental, and water samples. The data generated through this analytical track, which will be housed in public databases at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), can be accessed by researchers and public health officials for real time comparison and analysis that promises to speed foodborne illness outbreak investigations and reduce foodborne illnesses and deaths.
Micro A: Track 4 Project Narrative Application Title: Enhancement of California's Integrated Food Safety and Security System Project title: Enhancement of California's GenomeTrakr Capacity and Capabilities Maintenance of California's Genome Trakr Capability and Capacity ensures the technical competency and capability of the laboratory to perform whole genome sequencing (WGS) for isolates from a variety of food products and environmental samples. It helps to expand the network of laboratories that have the capacity support testing in WGS. This ensures that FDA and its state partners are able to respond swiftly and rapidly to adulterated food products. WGS helps public health scientists learn more about the foodborne bacteria that make people sick. It improves investigators? ability to link cases of illness to outbreaks and to identify common sources of infection. Based on FDLB?s experience with WGS, we expect to identify and solve more outbreaks and prevent more illnesses as WGS becomes the new standard in the surveillance of foodborne bacteria. Increased activity through this cooperative agreement would increase analytical capacity for the FDA and advance a nationally integrated food safety system, which enhances food safety, and allow rapid response to adulterated food products. These practices support the new and innovative program initiated by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FMSA).
