NACIONALINIS MAISTO IR VETERINARIJOS RIZIKOS VERTINIMO INSTITUTAS

Their core work

Lithuania's national authority for food and veterinary risk assessment, this public institute evaluates biological, chemical, and physical risks in food, feed, and the animal disease landscape. In practice, they monitor foodborne pathogens, coordinate disease surveillance programs, and translate veterinary risk data into national policy recommendations. In European research, they contribute as a national reference body — providing Lithuanian field data, epidemiological assessments, and regulatory expertise to pan-European consortia tackling zoonotic diseases and animal health emergencies. Their work sits at the intersection of laboratory science, surveillance systems, and public health policy.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their first H2020 engagement (2018) was deliberately broad — the One Health EJP placed them within a multi-hazard surveillance network covering foodborne zoonoses, parasitology, microbiology, and antimicrobial resistance. By 2019, they had narrowed sharply to one of the most politically urgent animal disease threats in the Baltic region: African Swine Fever. The shift from broad disease monitoring to a specific vaccine development and DIVA diagnostics project suggests they moved from surveillance generalist toward specialist contributor in a crisis-driven research area where Lithuania has acute national exposure along the wild boar migration corridor from Eastern Europe.

They appear to be deepening their specialization in African Swine Fever — a disease with growing urgency across EU member states — which makes them a natural partner for future ASF control, wildlife disease management, or veterinary diagnostics projects.

How they like to work

This institute exclusively joins projects as a participant, never as coordinator, which reflects the typical pattern of national regulatory bodies that contribute authoritative field data and surveillance infrastructure rather than driving research agendas. Both of their projects are large European consortia — One Health EJP in particular is one of the biggest food safety research programs in H2020 — meaning they are comfortable operating inside complex, multi-partner networks. Expect them to function as a specialist node: delivering Lithuanian national data, regulatory input, and diagnostic capacity rather than leading workpackages.

Despite only two projects, they have built connections with 63 unique partners across 24 countries — a direct consequence of participating in large European joint programmes like One Health EJP, which aggregates dozens of national institutes. Their network is genuinely pan-European with no visible geographic concentration beyond their Baltic base.

What sets them apart

As Lithuania's national food and veterinary risk assessment body, they hold a statutory position that private research groups cannot replicate — official risk assessments, national surveillance data, and regulatory authority that gives any consortium credibility with EU food safety governance bodies. Their geographic position is also a research asset: Lithuania sits on the active ASF transmission corridor from Russia and Belarus into the EU, making their field epidemiology data on wild boar populations and domestic pig disease incidence directly relevant to any European disease control project. For a consortium building a project that needs a Baltic reference laboratory or official national competent authority, they are a precise fit.

Highlights from their portfolio

• VACDIVA
  The highest-funded project for this institute and one of the most strategically urgent in European animal health — developing a DIVA-compatible ASF vaccine, a problem unsolved for decades with major consequences for EU livestock industries.
• One Health EJP
  Membership in this flagship European joint programme — one of H2020's largest coordinated food safety initiatives — signals that the institute is recognized as a national reference body within EU disease surveillance infrastructure.