Towards a national surveillance program for antimicrobial resistance in animals and animal-derived food.

One of the major recommendations of the JETACAR report was that a comprehensive national surveillance system be established to measure antimicrobial resistance to cover medical, food-producing and veterinary areas. While there are a number of existing passive surveillance programs on a national, regional and state basis in the medical field, there are few analogous programs in the veterinary area, and none with a particular emphasis on the food chain. The Commonwealth Interdepartmental JETACAR Implementation Group is working with stakeholders to develop this aspect of the national surveillance program based on the Guidelines published by the world organisation for animal health, the Office International des Epizooties.