Implementation

ОPERA s.r.l.

OPERA (www.opera-italy.eu) is a company specialized in the implementation of international cooperation projects in the field of food safety and animal health and welfare. Its headquarters are in Rome. The focus is on EU and Sanitary and Phytosanitary standards (SPS) ensuring that these standards are enforced along all phases of the livestock, plant and food chain and trace-ability ensured. These are the main elements around which the competencies and activities of OPERA are developed.

OPERA’s CEO, Claudio Bompard, boasts a considerable experience as project manager of veterinary projects. Senior permanent staff includes Alberto Mancuso, Food Safety Expert with experience as Team Leader and RTA of several food safety projects and Training coordinator of several Better Training for Safer Food programmes.

Furthermore, OPERA deploys a permanent team based at company headquarters and a group of over 30 different regular external collaborators, all high-level experts in different areas of corporate activity. In addition, it counts on a list of over 200 experts that have worked in the past with the company with proven and tested experience

Projects are equally distributed between technical assistance projects and training programs under the DG SANTE Better Training for Safer Food Activities (BSTF) initiative and are implemented in different countries based in continents all over the world.

As concerns technical assistance projects, OPERA is currently running, as lead company, two projects respectively in Turkish Cypriot community (animal health) and Serbia (animal health and welfare). Previous projects concluded in the last few years include countries such as Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Ethiopia, Belarus and others. Worthy of mention is the previous multicountry project for DG SANTE denominated “Support for the control/eradication of animal disease in Western Balkans” awarded to OPERA (lead company) and concluded in 2013.

The company has built up its experience operating closely abreast to Italian Central Veterinary Services (Ministry of Health) in the field of international cooperation and has supported their activities in 11 twinning projects since 2001. Its original status of non-profit organisation allowed OPERA to act as a Twinning mandated body of the Italian Ministry of Health (Italian Competent Authority) and, in a following phase, OPERA has been contracted for overall project management.

Under the BTSF initiative and under the supervision of DG SANTE and profiting from the participation of high profile experts from OIE and DG SANTE, in the recent years OPERA has carried out trainings and technical assistance activities on monitoring, control and eradication of animal diseases, such as African and Classical Swine Fever, Rabies, Lumpy skin disease, Avian Influenza, Foot and Mouth Disease, Peste des Petits Ruminants, Sheep and Goat Pox, Brucellosis, etc., throughout Europe, African and South America.

OPERA boasts a good experience in organising and delivering trainings and has achieved ISO 9001:2015 accreditation in 2012 in the sectors EA37 and EA35 (project management and training).

IZSLER

IZSLER is part of the network of Italian Zooprophylactic institutes and is one of the leading Italian institutes due to its geographical location in the heart of the livestock and food production areas of Italy. IZSLER operates in support of the public veterinary sectors and, in particular, of Regional and Central Veterinary Services, breeders and consumers. Its functions can be described as those of a Technical-Scientific Body providing services as required by national and regional laws.

Areas of expertise include animal health and welfare, animal diseases and zoonoses diagnostic service, epidemic prevention, sanitation and eradication plans and training of veterinary services. Staff of IZSLER is of 600 employees the majority of which are veterinarians, chemists, biologists.

Over the years IZSLER has been appointed as national reference center for 13 areas of specialization amongst which, in particular:

• Foot and Mouth Disease
• TBC
• Aujeszky’s disease
• Bovine milk quality
• Swine vesicular disease
• Animal welfare
• Training in public veterinary health
• Alternative methods, welfare and cure of laboratory animals

IZSLER acts as national technical-scientific reference center for bovine milk production (NRCQBM) of milk Laboratories of all Italian Zooprophylactic institutes. The NRCQBM supports both national and regional Veterinary Services through legal, regulatory and technical support in implementing official controls and ensuring quality and safety of milk (including in particular raw milk that is used, inter alia, for parmesan cheese), safety of the dairy products (detection of pathogen agents responsible for food-borne diseases and zoonoses), animal health (control of udder health and mastitis prophylaxis). Such activities are carried out based on a strong networking with other EU centers performing similar activities and with other Italian scientific bodies operating in the field of sanitary control systems (e.g. Higher Institute of Health, Italian Ministry of Health, etc.).

IZSLER has also been appointed as international reference laboratory for the following diseases:

• OIE Reference laboratory for FMD
• OIE Reference laboratory for Swine Vesicular Disease
• OIE Reference laboratory for Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease
• OIE Reference laboratory for Swine influenza
•  FAO Reference Center for FMD

IZSLER has a well-established and diversified network of 18 separate laboratories operating testing methods on animal health and animal diseases. Its quality system lists over 300 accredited testing methods certified by the national accreditation body (ACCREDIA).

Thanks to its solid background and specific competence in the field of laboratory testing, IZSLER will support all needs of laboratory training that may arise during implementation of project activities.

IZSLER is extremely active at international level with particular reference to non-EU countries. Through its role of FMD NRL, FAO and OIE reference laboratory it is involved in all main international activities all over the world with exceptional networking in Africa and South America.