In a notice dated 7 March 2007, the Ministry of Health designated the Istituto G. Caporale as National Reference Laboratory for Listeria monocytogenes .

Regulation EC 882/2004 establishes that the Laboratory shall perform the following functions:

• collaboration with the EU Reference Laboratory;
• coordinating the activities of the official laboratories responsible for analysing samples under Article 11 of the same Regulation;
• organizing comparative tests between the official national laboratories and ensuring appropriate follow-up to the comparative tests carried out;
• transmitting the information provided by the EU Reference Laboratory to the competent authority and the official national laboratories;
• collaborating on a technical-scientific level with the competent authority to implement coordinated control plans, adopted in accordance with Article 53 of the same Regulation.

The Laboratory also takes part in the Workgroup on zoonoses set up by the DG SANCO of the European Commission, and supports the Ministry of Health for the purposes of:

• defining the surveillance plan for Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. in pork-based products destined for export to the USA, and handling the data using the ICARUS computer system;
• managing the interlaboratory circuits involving the official test laboratories which carry out the microbiological analyses on pork-based products prepared by food businesses authorized for exporting to the USA.
• performing laboratory and data-collection activities on consumption and food habits, for the purpose of risk analysis on certain categories of food of major interest with regard to the presence of Listeria monocytogenes, in particular for ready-to-eat products and cheeses.

Head: Dr. Vincenza Prencipe