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:

Following the issue of Regulation EC 882/04 where Article 33 provides for each member state of the European Union to designate a National Reference Laboratory for the various subject areas of interest, the following National Reference Laboratories were established at the Laboratory for Foods of Animal Origin (LAOA) of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise "G. Caporale":