Pursuant to Law No. 9863 On Food, dated 28 January 2008, as amended, which regulates the food safety system in Albania, the National Food Authority (NFA) is responsible for risk assessments, risk management and risk communication. 13 Border Inspection Posts (BIPs) under the NFA are in charge of the control of plants and plant products, livestock, animal by-products and food of animal and non-animal origin at the borders. The National Food Authority is an integrated part of the programme to create and guarantee a food safety system and consumer protection in the Republic of Albania. It was established by the Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 1081 dated 21 October 2009. NFA is an institution within the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration. As part of its organisational structure, NFA has nine regional laboratories which perform lab analyses for food and feed official controls as well as plant protection to verify compliance with the laws in the country, according to the legislation in effect. These labs are categorized into:

• Food safety lab: physical – chemical
• Microbiology lab
• Animal health and welfare lab
• plant protection lab.

The state of play of the NFA labs is defined in Law No. 9863 On Food, dated 28 January 2008, as amended, wherein their authorisation is granted by the Minister of Agriculture after an evaluation performed by the FSVI reference laboratory.

The remit of the NFA:

• Leads the risk assessment process in the fields of food, feed and plant protection; plans, coordinates and realises official controls of food and feed and plant protection
• Ensures the unification of official control practices for food, feed and plant protection at the national level
• Coordinates authorised laboratory activities with regard to official controls for food, feed and plant protection
• Conducts preliminary controls to verify if the technical, technological, hygiene, sanitation, phytosanitary and veterinary requirements are met and also to verify the necessary documentation for registering and licensing food business operators and plant protection
• Blocks, temporarily or permanently, the activities of food and feed business operators in stages of production, processing, delivery and marketing of food or feed when is proven that the food or feed and the respective business operators do not meet food safety standards as specified in the legislation in effect
• Conducts necessary scientific research on risk assessment in the field of food and feed safety and plant protection
• Provides technical, administrative and scientific support to enable the work of scientific committees and scientific panels
• Informs the public on food and feed safety and plant protection.