THE ITALIAN NETWORK OF GMO LABORATORIES
Official control analyses on GM food and feed are performed by the IZS, some ARPA and some ASL as provided for by the regional competent authorities.
Counteranalyses, Possibly required in case of non-compliance found in the first instance, are up to the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS).
| Istituti Zooprofilattici Sperimentali | Agenzie Protezione Ambiente |
Aziende Sanitarie Locali
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| IZS Abruzzo e Molise | A.P.P.A. Bolzano | A.S.L. Cremona |
| A.R.P.A. FVG Dip. Pordenone | A.S.P Palermo | |
| A.R.P.A FVG Dip. Trieste | ||
| A.R.P.A. Puglia | ||
| A.R.P.A Valle d’Aosta | ||
| IZS delle Venezie |
All these laboratories are accredited for qualitative and/or quantitative GMO testing. In addition to carrying out the analytical control provided by the ordinary and contingency plans, feeding the online GMO application for reporting their testing results, the official laboratories cooperate with each other and with the National Reference Centre to carry out a number of activities which can be summed up as follows:
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Collaborative trials for the validation and harmonization of taxon-specific, screening and event-specific qualitative and quantitative methods
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External quality control through “Proficiency Testing”
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Creation of working groups dealing with specific issues
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Training, information and updating activities, on topics of interest (eg validation of methods and estimation of measurement uncertainty), on regulatory aspects and control plans.
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Research activities mainly applied to the development and validation of analytical methods, or focused on the development of new methodologies for risk analysis, for the production of training products and for monitoring unauthorized GMOs.