Genes found on imported seafood is linked to antimicrobial resistance, a top public health threat

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UGA scientists confirm antibiotic resistant genes found in wastewater came from imported seafood.

Credit: Contributed

Amid ongoing food safety warnings from the U.S. Federal Drug Administration about imported seafood, researchers with University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety found mobile colistin resistance (MCR) genes on imported shrimp and scallops sold in Georgia, Issmat Kassem said. 

This is the first time these MCR genes have been documented on seafood in the United States.

The risk to public health includes the ability to use colistin, a drug of last resort, to treat complex bacterial infections.

"We are talking about importation of bacteria and genetic material that encode resistance to colistin that can spread," he said. 

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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.

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Issmat Kaseem in the Center for Food Safety, UGA, inspecting vials of antibiotics.

Credit: UGA contributed

The discovery answers questions about the source of the material when previous findings documented MCR genes in the human population in Georgia. 

"This issue was overlooked," Kassem said.

Georgians aren't using colistin in agriculture, he said, which is the main driver of the spread of those MCR genes, so the researchers started looking elsewhere to understand how the genes got into local wastewater.

"Everybody is talking about radioactive shrimp, but not many are talking about antimicrobial resistance," he said.

Antimicrobial resistant genes and infectious diseases, like with COVID, can be imported easily, but it's not easy to test everything or test for everything that could contaminate imported food.

In Georgia, legislation requires labeling the country of origin on imported seafood, Kassem said, noting that Congress is considering the Safer Shrimp Imports Act.

Some seafood is packaged ready-to-eat and, when consumed, that bacteria and genetic material processes through the gastrointestinal system, Kassem said.

While locally sourced shrimp is much easier to inspect and control, between 65% and 85% of seafood in the U.S. is imported.