European Union: EFFORT, a EU project against antimicrobial resistance

The EFFORT (Ecology from Farm to Fork Of microbial drug Resistance and Transmission) project will provide scientific evidence and high quality data that will inform decision makers, the scientific community and other stakeholders about the consequences of anti-microbial resistance (AMR) in the food chain, in relation to animal health and welfare, food safety and economic aspects.

The EFFORT consortium is made up of 20 partners from 10 different European countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Switzerland.

In addition to the project partners, an external advisory board has been appointed to provide an outside expert view on the project. Other external participants include local veterinaries (needed in some cases for sampling activities and data collection) and, of course, volounteer farmers.

Specifically, EFFORT will strive to answer the following fundamental, but complex questions demanded by risk managers:

• What is the impact of antimicrobial usage in food-producing animals on human exposure to AMR determinants?
• What are the most important transmission routes and sources of human exposure to AMR determinants?
• What is the impact on human health of transfer of AMR determinants between commensals and pathogenic microorganisms?
• How can human exposure to AMR determinants through food-producing animals be reduced?
• What is the most cost-effective way of monitoring antimicrobial resistance occurrence in food-producing animals and in the food chain?