The laboratories of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Seperimentale delle Venezie (IZSVe) dedicated to the analysis of foods of plant origin conferred by the Venetian Local Health Authorities (AA.SS.LL.) for official controls, have entered full capacity.

 

In fact, since 1 July 2021, the IZSVe, designated by the Veneto Region as the official laboratory for the execution of all laboratory analyzes in the food safety sector, is responsible for microbiological and chemical analyzes on all food matrices, therefore not only animals as in the past.

 

 

 

Antonia Ricci, General Director of the IZSVe, declares: "The assignment of these new tasks, in fact, recognizes the high competence of the Institute's staff and the state-of-the-art equipment at its disposal. I would like to emphasize the importance of this technical choice, which is clearly aimed at interpreting the consumer's food safety as a unique requirement, to achieve all this a 360 degree preparation and an institutional presence are required. Once again, the technical-scientific fields of veterinary medicine prove capable of adequately responding to the needs of a consumer who is more forward-thinking today, more sensitive to animal welfare and more motivated to adopt healthy eating habits”.

 

 

The novelty was introduced by the Deliberation of the Veneto Regional Council (DGRV) no. 803 of 22 June 2021, with which the responsibilities between IZSVe and the Regional Agency for the Prevention and Protection of the Environment of Veneto (ARPAV) were reorganized in the field as official laboratory analyzes on food matrices.

 

The Resolution officially sanctioned a project for the regional reorganization of competences in the field of laboratory analyzes launched in 2019, aimed at creating two specialized poles of activity for the protection of public health:

 

1. an "Environment-Health" pole focused on the human/environment interface that has the ARPAV as a reference,
2. a "Food-Health" pole oriented towards a global vision of food safety managed by the IZSVe.

 

According to the steps envisaged by the project, the IZSVe has begun to carry out microbiological analyzes on all food matrices from 1 July 2021, while it will also guarantee chemical analyzes from 1 January 2022.

 

 

With the same measure, the regional center for the surveillance of food poisoning agents was also established at the IZSVe, which will have to support the AA.SS.LL. and the Veneto Region in the epidemiological surveillance of foodborne diseases (FD). The main purposes of the Center include:

 

• the systematic collection of data relating to the characterization of pathogenic microorganisms isolated in the context of FD;

 

• the study of the incidence and prevalence of FDs in the regional territory;

 

• the identification of epidemic outbreaks in humans attributable to FD;

 

• the management of the communication flows of these data to the Ministry of Health;

 

• the development of actions and strategies that help to contain the risk of spreading FDs at a regional and national level.

 

 

 

 

 

Source: IZSVe