Environmental Health Division

Head of Division

Pavle Jeličić, PhD, MD, MHM
Specialist in Epidemiology and Environmental Health

Environmental Health Division of the Croatian Institute of Public Health is the central point in the network of public health institutes that implement measures to protect human health from the environmental factors with potentially harmful effects. The main tasks of the network are monitoring, evaluation, prevention and correction of environmental factors with harmful effects, as well as support to activities that improve the quality of the environment, and promote healthy lifestyles and use of healthy technologies. The measures apply to all types of environmental factors (biological, chemical, physical, etc.), and all environmental media that man comes into contact with – water, food, air, soil, etc.

In this regard, the Division focuses on the following activities:

  • Monitoring, study and evaluation of the safety and quality of food that is produced and marketed in the Republic of Croatia, as well as imported;
  • Monitoring, study and evaluation of the safety of drinking water, the quality of waste, surface and recreational waters, as well as the quality of public water supply throughout the Republic of Croatia;
  • Monitoring, study and evaluation of the safety of general use items: materials and articles in contact with food, consumer products and cosmetic products;
  • Monitoring the nutritional status of the population, in terms of energy supply and individual nutritional deficits, especially in vulnerable groups (children, women and pregnant women, the elderly).

The laboratories of the Division are accredited in line with the HRN EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard and authorized as official laboratories (Ministry of Agriculture) for the needs of sanitary inspections in areas of food, water and general use items (Ministry of Health).

Some of the Division’s laboratories are authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health as reference laboratories for the following areas:

a) pesticides (cereals, animal feed, fruits and vegetables) (Ministry of Agriculture),

b) food microbiology (in collaboration with the Croatian Veterinary Institute) (Ministry of Agriculture),

c) heavy metals in food and animal feed (Ministry of Agriculture),

d) genetically modified organisms (Ministry of Health), and

e) general use Items (Ministry of Health)

Experts of the Division also participate in the formulation of public health policies, legislative and regulatory measures in the area of ​​their activity, as well as opinions and standpoints of the Republic of Croatia, as members of the European Commission working groups, and in scientific research projects on a national and international level. The Division also acts as an expert-methodology centre for the coordination and professional supervision of the environmental health services in county institutes of public health, and training analysts for independent laboratory work.

 

Water Safety Control and Water Supply Department

  • Microbiology Unit
  • Mineral, Spring and Table Waters Unit
  • Wastewaters Unit
  • Water Supply and Water Protection Unit
  • Swimming Pools and Therapeutic Waters Unit
  • Water Chemistry Unit

Food Safety Department

  • Food and General Use Items Microbiology Unit
  • Pesticides and Mycotoxins Unit
  • Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and Risk Assessment Unit
  • Metals and Metalloids Unit
  • Additives Unit
  • Food Quality, Planning, Support and Quality Assurance Unit

Food Supplements, Bioactive and Psychoactive Substances Department

  • Food Supplements, Foods for Specific Groups, Novel Foods and Nutrivigilance Unit
  • Psychoactive Substances from Drugs Unit
  • Vitamins, Bioactive Substances, Flavourings and Essential Oils Unit

General Use Items Department

  • Consumer Products and Cosmetovigilance Unit
  • Materials and Articles in Contact with Food and Microplastics Unit
  • Analytical Techniques and Nanotechnology Unit

General Environmental Health Department

  • Environmental and Health Monitoring Unit
  • Environmental Risk and Health Impact Assessment Unit
  • Health Education, Disinfection and Disinfestation Unit
  • Nutrition Physiology, Monitoring and Improvement Unit
  • Biological Monitoring and Laboratory Support to National Health Programmes Unit
  • Quality Assurance in Environmental Health Unit
  • Environmental Health Activity Coordination Unit

Crisis Preparedness and Response Department

  • Crisis Management Unit
  • Emergency Interventions Unit
  • International Cooperation and One Health Department
  • Sustainable Healthcare Development Unit