The Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) currently comprises federal, state, and local government regulatory laboratories with varying capacities to perform threat agent testing.

The FSIS FERN cooperative agreements are intended to target state, local, and tribal FERN labs to augment microbiological

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threat agent testing capacities and expand the number of member laboratories able to perform threat agent testing for the Network.

The agreements will enhance the ability to analyze for microbiological threat agents utilizing FERN methods and improve laboratory capacities for food defense assignments and outbreak response.

The agreements will support FERN threat agent method training, the purchase of equipment and supplies required by the selected methods, and reimbursement of personnel expenses.

[NOTE:
The agreements do not support construction costs.]