Contemporary aspects in control over resistant to antibiotics microbial contaminants of food, taking into account peculiarities of related health risk assessment. Part 1

Abstract

Antimicrobials are widely used in agriculture to prevent and treat diseases and to stimulate growth of food-producing animals. However, this induces developing antimicrobial resistance among animal bacteria, and this resistance is then transmitted along food chains and spreads in the environment. It is commonly accepted at the moment that effective measures should be taken to contain it in food production, to prevent it from spreading on the global scale and to minimize related negative health outcomes. This can be achieved, among other things, due to intensifying inter-branch interactions. This review aimed to consider contemporary aspects in preventing development of antimicrobial resistance in micro-organisms that contaminate raw materials and processed food products; to dwell on how the issue is controlled in food production both in Russia and abroad; to focus on trends and prospects of developing new effective measures in the sphere. The review involved analyzing domestic and foreign regulatory and legal documents concerning prevention of antimicrobial resistance and analysis of related risks; generalizing and analyzing latest scientific research works published in reference databases including Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Google scholar. As a result, we described the experience accumulated in organizing monitoring over prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in foreign countries, to generalize international recommendations as well as regional and national ones on monitoring over microorganisms that are resistant to antimicrobials, and to highlight practical activities aimed at preventing occurrence and spread of antimicrobial resistance in food production. We substantiated certain peculiarities of related health risk assessment, namely, occurrence of genetic determinants of antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic residues in food together with resistant microorganisms. We also formulated basic principles of organizing and conducting monitoring over antimicrobial resistance in food chains (with the focus on antimicrobial medications that are crucially important in medicine). These principles can be applied in the Russian Federation within programs aimed at preventing antimicrobial resistance.

Keywords

• antimicrobial resistance
• antimicrobial veterinary medications
• monitoring over antimicrobial resistance
• sub-inhibitory doses of antimicrobials
• food safety
• harmful factors related to antimicrobial resistance
• markers of antimicrobial resistance in food