Food safety is the province of the Laboratory for Foods of Animal Origin (LAOA), which provides technical and scientific support to the official supervision authorities, to agri-food business and to consumers, to protect the safety of foods intended for people and animals. The Laboratory is concerned with the work of monitoring and surveillance, providing technical consultancy for identifying the risks in foods and animal feeds. it carries out research for developing specifications and innovative diagnostic methods, and for risk analysis to establish the level of food safety and identify valid, measurable and verifiable objectives for the protection of health. It collaborates with candidate countries for European Union membership in order to adapt their national legislation and the operating criteria of their laboratories to comply with EU requirements. All the activities of the LAOA are performed in collaboration with Italian and international scientific organizations.

The LAOA is made up of four departments which conduct analytical investigations searching for biological, chemical and physical contaminants:

• Bacteriology and hygiene in the production of milk and dairy products;
• Biophysics;
• Bromatology and residues in foods for human and animal consumption;
• Hygiene in food technology and animal feeds.

Head Laboratory: Dr. Giacomo Migliorati

The Department is concerned with identifying bacteria isolated from animals, foods, people and the environment by means of traditional methods (biochemical, enzymatic, serological, phagic) and molecular methods; assessing the quality of milk by determination of its chemical-physical and hygienic-sanitary parameters; and the search for bacterial agents responsible for outbreaks of mastitis.

The Department carries out its work within the compass of the Regional and National Reference Centres and Laboratories at the Institute, through the molecular identification of the Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides cluster, and identification and molecular characterization of the virulence factors of zoonotic agents such as Brucella, Mycobacteria, Campylobacter, Salmonella and Verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) by methods such as PCR, PFGE, RFLP, S-AFLP, microarray etc.

The Department is also engaged in the study of the resistances of bacteria to antimicrobial drugs, both by traditional methods and by the application of molecular techniques, hybridization and sequencing of resistance genes.

Since 2006 the Department of Bacteriology and Hygiene in the production of milk and dairy products has been responsible for the performance at national level of bacteriological tests on veterinary drugs, to evaluate their compliance to the in force legislation.

Other activities are as follows:

• preparing and conducting interlaboratory tests for Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes, Brucella spp. and thermotolerant Campylobacters;
• technical support for the activities of the  Regional Mycological Centre;
• participation in the realization of numerous research projects financed by the Ministry of Health in the spheres of Food Safety and Animal Health.

The Regional Reference Laboratory for Pathogenic Enterobacteria operates within the above Department.

Head Department: Dr. Elisabetta Di Giannatale

The activities of the Biophysics Department of the Institute started in June 1987, as a natural development of the tests carried out for precautionary purposes following the Chernobyl incident, with the implementation of an environmental radiological surveillance plan for detecting radionuclides presence in food matrices. Using the determination of gamma-emitting radio isotopes by direct gamma spectroscopy with a germanium detector, the presence of any caesium 137 and caesium 134 (substances produced by nuclear fusion) is detected, along with other isotopes such as beryllium, radium and potassium.

In implementation of the Abruzzo Region's Plan for monitoring radioactivity emitted by food matrices, the Biophysics Department carries out radiometric tests on food samples (cereals, meat, vegetables etc.), paying particular attention to locally-produced foods.

The Department also carries out radio-ecological tests on samples of grass, fungi, mosses and soils taken from the four parks which are situated in the territory in the jurisdiction of the G. Caporale Institute. This work enables monitoring of the geochemical and biological mobility of the radionuclides released by the Chernobyl event and, at the same time, safeguarding the health of the wildlife and grazing animals.

The Department carries out tests of radioactivity for official monitoring purposes and for certification of products of animal and vegetable origin destined for export, at the request of public and private bodies. Similar tests for detecting radioactive isotopes are also carried out on hospital waste water.

Head Department: Dr. Giampiero Scortichini

The department is concerned principally with analytical monitoring of foods intended for human and animal consumption, by means of:

• searching for residues of anabolic substances, veterinary drugs, plant health products, mycotoxins and environmental contaminant, such as dioxins and heavy metals, in products of animal origin;
• searching for residues of plant health products, mycotoxins and heavy metals in products of vegetable origin;
• food and feed composition determination for evaluating their  nutritive value, assessment of their quality and storage stability and checking for chemical additives.

The Department also carries out toxicological investigations in cases of suspected poisoning of animals, and conducts analyses of surface water to check for environmental contaminants.

Since 2006 the Department has been responsible for the conduction at national level of chemical tests on veterinary medicines, to evaluate their compliance with the specifications contained in the  marketing authorization.

As regards research activities, the Department is concerned with the development and validation of new analytical methods, in particular for dealing with emerging problems of contamination of foodstuffs, of which the recent case of melamine in milk-based products of origin is one.

The Department has participated in carrying out numerous research projects financed by the Ministry of Health in the field of food safety, and has collaborated in the realization of numerous technical assistance projects for the benefit of candidate countries for EU membership, aimed principally at harmonizing analytical techniques for searching for organic and inorganic chemical residues in foods.

Head Department: Dr. Giampiero Scortichini

The Department of hygiene in food and animal feed technology performs analytical investigations on foods intended for human and animal consumption, carries out tests to identify and quantify pathogenic micro-organisms and hygiene indicators in food production processes, and performs genotypic characterization of Listeria monocytogenes which is useful in epidemiological investigations for tracing the sources of food borne infections. The Department also carries out tests for the detection and quantification of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) on food and feed samples to assess their conformity to the laws.

Head Department: Dr. Vincenza Prencipe