[The Istituto Superiore di Sanità, the organization responsible for the evaluation and accreditation of food product testing laboratories ].

Laboratories in charge of food control play a pivotal role within the actions planned for the safety of food products, the latter identified as a fundamental strategic priority in the European Union Food safety white paper 2000. They are demanded to comply with specific criteria to demonstrate the use of an appropriate quality system, technical competence and production of technically reliable and valid results. Precise guidance is set forth in the Italian law DL. vo 156/97 which requires that official test laboratories should comply with European Standard UNI CEI EN 45001, currently replaced by UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17025. and with some of the OECD principles of good laboratory practice. The Istituto Superiore di Sanità, the Italian National Health Institute, was designated by the Ministerial Decree of 12 May 1999 as the organism responsible for evaluation and accreditation of official food product control laboratories.