Joining Details
Moderator: Natalie Vestin (@CIDRAP_ASP) and Vanessa Carter (@theAMRnarrative)
Date: 07 June 2023 (World Food Safety Day)
Where: Twitter
Time: 3 pm GMT (5 pm CEST/CAT, 4 pm BST, 11 am EDT)
Hashtag: #theAMRnarrative
How to participate:
Join us for a 60-minute Twitter chat with our panel experts. All stakeholders are welcome.
Start your answers with T1, T2, T3, T4, or CT for transcript purposes.
Answer only after the moderator prompts. Questions will be prompted every 10 minutes but keep answers coming using the relevant T and number. Both panel experts and the public are encouraged to answer.
Use the #theAMRnarrative hashtag in all your tweets so that you are visible to others in the chat and captured on the transcript.
Overview
Food safety is an issue that crosses all boundaries of individual, family, cultural, and community life, requiring trust that the food we purchase and eat will nourish rather than harm us. Increasing rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in some foodborne infections, along with concerns about food contaminated with antimicrobials and antimicrobial-resistant genes (ARGs), threatens our ability to trust in the safety of one of our basic needs. In this TweetChat, we will discuss the connections between AMR and food safety.
Antimicrobials and ARGs may enter the food supply in meat from animals given antimicrobial drugs for sickness or growth promotion, vegetables grown in soil fertilized with manure from animals given antibiotics, irrigation water contaminated with manure from nearby farms, the use of antimicrobial sprays to prevent diseases in fruit or to keep fruit unblemished during storage, among many other ways. The ways in which AMR affects food depend significantly on diverse farming, food processing, and environmental practices and regulations around the world.
Food tainted by bacteria like Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Escherichia coli can cause infections and outbreaks that, for many people, resolve with rest and include symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, intestinal cramps, and sometimes fever. People who have weakened immune systems or are older, however, may have serious infections and dehydration that require antibiotic therapy, and rising rates of AMR in foodborne bacteria threaten the ability to properly treat people most at risk of severe disease.
Food containing antimicrobial residues or ARGs does not cause acute illness, yet researchers are currently studying whether consuming these foods may raise the risk of developing antimicrobial-resistant infections in the future.
Much like AMR, food safety is both an individual and a community issue. World leaders have linked the availability of a safe food supply to the ability of nations to reduce poverty, lower gender disparities in farming and aquaculture, prevent armed conflict and ensure economic stability. Efforts to reduce AMR in food and prevent drug-resistant foodborne infections include involving farmers, ranchers, and herders in AMR training; developing healthy farming practices that lower the incidence of disease among animals; introducing legislation that prohibits antimicrobials important for human medicine from being used in animals; and much more.
Everyone has a voice in ensuring that food is safe and that accurate information about food-raising practices is available to all. Patients and members of the public can get involved in issues around AMR and food safety by learning about farming practices and regulations in their communities, advocating for food safety reform, and choosing foods that have not been raised with antimicrobials when that choice is available and affordable.
QUESTIONS
T1: What is AMR and where is it found?
T2: Why is AMR so important to consider when thinking about food safety?
T3: How can we educate and empower patients and the public about food safety in relation to AMR?
T4: Why should patients and the public participate in efforts to reduce AMR in food and prevent foodborne disease?
T5: What barriers are there for patients and the public to reduce the consumption of food containing antimicrobials or prevent a drug-resistant foodborne infection?
CT: Any thoughts you would like to add about the connection between AMR and food safety?
How to participate:
Join us for a 60-minute Twitter chat with our panel experts. All stakeholders are welcome.
Start your answers with T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, or CT for transcript purposes.
Answer only after the moderator prompts. Questions will be prompted every 10 minutes but keep answers coming using the relevant T and number. Both panel experts and the public are encouraged to answer.
Use the #theAMRnarrative hashtag in all your tweets so that you are visible to others in the chat and captured on the transcript.
More can be read about this event at the CIDRAP website here.
Notes: Prior to the event, review the University of Minnesota’s Social Media House Rules for a code of conduct applicable to this event.