The National Reference Centres, located at the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institutes, represent an operational tool of high competence in the fields of animal health, food hygiene and livestock hygiene.

These are true centres of excellence working for the entire national health system and for the international organizations with which they collaborate.

The National Reference Centres active at the Istituto G. Caporale are as follows:

• National Reference Centre for the study and verification of Foreign Animal Diseases (CESME)
• National Reference Centre for Brucellosis
• National Reference Centre for Veterinary Epidemiology, Programming, Information and Risk Analysis (COVEPI)