The Reference Unit has the following objectives:

• Acting in accordance with specific standards in the area of ​​Food Security and Nutrition and promote their implementation;

• Participate in the development of new normative documents and other reference measures;

• Provide differentiated services, according to the needs and priorities in health, including analytical testing, production of reference materials, interlaboratory comparison tests and other performance assessment schemes;

• Implement new approaches emphasizing uniqueness and specificity;

• Collaborate with the harmonization of methodologies at national and international levels;

• Collaboration with other national laboratories, including Public Health Laboratories;

• Represent INSA in international networks of reference laboratories.

The Reference Unit has three laboratories: Laboratory Reference Materials, Laboratory of Microbiology, and Laboratory of Chemistry.