Laboratory activities
The Bioinstitut laboratory is one of the leading Croatian laboratories in the field of laboratory diagnostics, especially when it comes to the analysis of food, water and items of general use as well as laboratory analyses concerning environmental protection. Initially a laboratory testing the safety of water for human consumption, microbiological safety of food, and quality of food and wine, over the years, as a result of its employees’ hard work, it received authorisations that allowed it to expand its activities and develop further. One of the many authorisations worth mentioning is the 2002 authorisation of the Croatian Ministry of Health to perform specialised activities – laboratory testing of the safety of food and items of general use, making the Bioinstitut laboratory the first private laboratory with this status in Croatia. In 2005, the Croatian Accreditation Agency accredited 50 of its chemical and microbiological testing methods according to HRN EN ISO/IEC 17025. In 2008, the laboratory received the authorisation of the Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Construction to perform expert activities for monitoring the state of the environment. This was followed by authorisations related to water; firstly for laboratory testing of wastewater and later for surface and groundwater testing.
To meet market conditions and legislative frameworks, the laboratory is constantly growing. At the moment, it has more than 200 accredited methods according to HRN EN ISO/IEC 17025. The biggest development in recent years has been in the field of pesticides and priority substances, and we intend to intensify this development even further in the coming period. We are working on an automated preparation of samples, and for this reason we have acquired an automated extractor for liquid samples, thus ensuring easily repeated and faster sample preparation. In addition to automation, we are implementing measures to reduce the amount of harmful substances in the laboratory (various solvents), and for certain measurement procedures we have also introduced direct methods without extraction in the area of food. Since our current building we moved into in 2008 has become too small, we have extended it by another 800 m2, giving us now more than 2000 m2 of working space. Instruments will be moved to the new space while the ground floor of our former laboratory will be turned into laboratories for sample preparation. Increasing the space will enable a new development of laboratory activities in analysis and market areas.
As a business entity, we primarily strive towards knowledge, and only then towards placing our services on the laboratory services market. Our business partners expect accuracy, independence and credibility of results; qualified, continuously trained and experienced staff; accurate, state-of-the-art equipment; regular calibration and maintenance; properly taken samples; appropriate testing procedures; traceability of measurements to national standards; proper procedures for data and final test report documentation. We describe all laboratory procedures understandably and clearly, define testing procedures, prepare working instructions and patterns, and determine responsibilities for certain tasks.
We provide laboratory diagnostics services for clients all over Croatia, and in recent years in Slovenia and Austria as well.
70 years – safety through knowledge
