Directions and aims of the activity
In addition to the state delegated functions and laboratory services for agriculture, fisheries and food sectors, the Institute is characterised by a large variety of scientific work – fundamental and applied studies as well as the development of methods and technologies for fostering human, animal and environmental health, animal welfare, safe food circulation and for preservation of fish and water resources. The Institute has the following directions of activity:
- Chemistry science
- Environmental science
- Public and environmental health
- Fisheries
- Veterinary medicine science
The Institute cooperates with educational institutions, governmental institutions, companies and scientific institutes in Latvia and outside its borders.
Researchers and experts having various specialisations work together to ensure a complex vision of the matters to be solved which enhances the quality of the results of scientific work.
Quality in Science
The Institute maintains the quality management system developed according to the requirements laid down in LVS EN ISO 9001 and the quality management system developed for the laboratories of the Institute according to the requirements laid down in LVS EN ISO 17025:2005 to ensure the quality of state delegated functions and commercial services provided.
For ensuring the quality of scientific work, it is not possible to determine such a strict regulation as it is in the case of commercial services due to the reason that scientific work includes creative activity. However, the measures taken for ensuring the quality of scientific data are often similar to the measures determined by the quality measures. Such activities include, for example, traceability of calibration standards till the international system of measurements, preservation of the results of experiments and observations and keeping them unchanged, as well as validation of the methods of measurements, involvement in inter-laboratory comparisons, performing repeated experiments, evaluation of external circumstances influencing the results of experiments, their prevention and compensation, determining or assessment of the certainty of measurements.
The specialists of the Institute choose only the methods that are suitable for the task of the research and follow good praxis in their work. They process and interpret the results in a critical way and take all necessary measures for quality assurance to ensure that the results have a high level of credibility.