The Reference Laboratory for Milk and Milk Products (RL)
Laboratory accredited by the Croatian Accreditation Agency

The Reference Laboratory for Milk and Milk Products (RL) was established in 2001 through a joint project between the Department of Dairying at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, and the Ministry of Agriculture. The project outlined the necessary funding and procurement of equipment required for the laboratory’s operations. The need for the RL was emphasized with the adoption of the "Regulations on the Quality of Fresh Raw Milk" (Official Gazette 102/2000), which followed EU standards. Its creation coincided with the establishment of the Central Laboratory for Milk Control, part of the Croatian Agricultural Agency (HPA, now HAPIH) in Križevci, forming an essential part of the comprehensive milk quality control system.

The objectives and responsibilities of the RL, as defined by the Ordinance on Determining the Composition of Raw Milk (Official Gazette 27/17) and the Ordinance on the Authorization of Official and Reference Laboratories for Food and Animal Feed (Official Gazette 86/10, 7/11, and 74/13), include:

• Performing analyses of milk and dairy products using reference methods, which SLKM and other dairy laboratories in Croatia use to calibrate their instruments, ensuring the accuracy of their work in line with European laboratory standards.
• Supplying reference materials for cow, goat, and sheep milk to calibrate analytical instruments in SLKM and other laboratories, ensuring that the raw milk quality control system in Croatia is fully independent and comprehensive.
• Continuously updating the conversion standards for instruments such as the Bactoscan FC, which measures the total number of microorganisms in raw cow, goat, and sheep milk using flow cytometry, with one of the most advanced conversion systems in the EU.
• Organizing proficiency tests and inter-laboratory comparative tests (PT) for SLKM and other official and interested laboratories, ensuring the traceability of measurement results to reference methods.
• Introducing new methods for analyzing milk and dairy products.
• Providing training and education for staff at SLKM and other interested dairy laboratories.

The RL is accredited by the Croatian Accreditation Agency in accordance with the HRN EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard, as outlined in the accreditation certificate (certificate number: 1081). Additionally, the RL is accredited under the HRN EN ISO/IEC 17043 standard for "Conformity Assessment – General Requirements for Proficiency Testing" (certificate number: 8649).

These accreditations bring the RL closer to its goal of ensuring high quality throughout all phases of its operations and meeting the demands of its service users.

More information about the laboratory and its services is available on  website  https://rlm.agr.hr/