Introduction

As an integral part of the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, the Central Laboratories have an established and suitably maintained management system that complies with the requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 standard (certificate Q-1120 from 2007). The laboratories’ status is ensured by the independence and impartiality of the results. From 2002 to 2011, the laboratories were acquiring accreditations according to the SIST EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard for individual areas (oenological laboratory, soil analysis, animal feed analysis, honey analysis, etc.) through the French accreditation committee Cofrac, which ensures accuracy and comparability of the results of test methods at the international level. In 2012, the Cofrac accreditation was transferred to the national accreditation body, the Slovenian Accreditation. Since 2012, the Central Laboratories have been accredited through the Slovenian Accreditation under registration number LP-020. The Slovenian Accreditation is a signatory of the multilateral agreement between the EA (European Co-Operation for Accreditation) and the ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) for mutual recognition of the equivalence of test and analysis reports.

The laboratories perform tests with the use of reference material and calibration standards with guaranteed traceability. We also perform internal quality control with the help of secondary reference material. We have labour standards, control charts and other tools in place that enable constant on-line quality control of the obtained results. We participate in the international inter-laboratory comparative schemes BIPEA, EUPT, CIPAC and WEPAL-ISE and programmes for determining competency.

We successfully perform our activities in four fields of work: in research and development work, professional work, international projects and servicing activity. We are aware of the ever increasing importance of the transfer of knowledge, thus we are strengthening our cooperation with foreign and domestic research and educational institutions as well as Slovenian expert advice services in the field, corporate entities, market and amateur food producers, societies and all other users of information on sustainable agriculture and management of natural resources.

 

List of Accredited Methods.