Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

Irvos laboratories, inspections from Monday

Three days of inspection in the IRVOS Multisite Laboratories, including those of Alcamo and Milazzo. From Monday 11 June to Wednesday 13 inspectors designated by the ACCREDIA Laboratory Department will verify management according to the international standard ISO/IEC 17025 which defines the "General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories".

Inspections which take place on an annual basis and which, on the tenth anniversary of the first accreditation which took place in February 2002, will see for the first time the laboratories of Marsala and Palermo involved in obtaining the accreditation of some tests for olive oils, given the recent attribution of skills in the olive-oil sector.

The ACCREDIA inspection team is made up of the engineer Montanari and the doctor Licit and the secretary doctor Scognamiglio. The surveillance visits to the IRVOS laboratories of Marsala and Palermo will be followed by Dr. Monte, head of the technical-scientific area, by Dr. Russo, head of the Laboratory Unit and by Dr. Miciletta, head of the Palermo Laboratory and by all the qualified technical and secretarial staff of the laboratories.

The management requirements prescribe the periodic review of the objectives of the Management System and the clear commitment to continuous improvement of the same. Particular attention is paid to the technical competence of the staff and to keeping the analytical instrumentation used under control. Furthermore, laboratories must ensure that they obtain feedback from their customers with a view to improving the service offered. Maintaining accreditation, in addition to qualifying the laboratories, also allows the maintenance of ministerial authorization for the issuing of official certification in the wine sector.