Cherkizovo’s R&D Lab wins prestigious Silver Mole award

Moscow, Russia – April 28 – The Research & Development Lab of Cherkizovo Group, Russia’s largest meat producer, has won the Silver Mole award as the best national R&D lab.

At its annual meeting, the Association of Analytical Centers Analitica (AAC Analitica) has announced the results of the 2021 contest for the best Russian research and development laboratory. Cherkizovo’s R&D Lab, an innovative food research facility on par with Europe's best, was voted the winner by an independent jury.

It became the first ever private agricultural lab to receive the contest’s top prize – the Silver Mole – awarded for special achievements in analytical control. The Silver Mole is a small cube made of pure silver weighing 107.87 grams, which is equal to 1 mole of silver.

“We are very happy and proud to have won this prestigious award in analytical control, which is testimony to the expert community’s recognition of our R&D work in the agricultural and food industries,” said Sergey Shapovalov, PhD in Biology and Director of Cherkizovo's R&D Lab. He noted that in 2021, the Lab's technical competence was endorsed by two accrediting organisations: the Federal Service for the Accreditation (RusAccreditation) and AAC Analitica, a non-governmental institution.  

The Association of Analytical Centers Analitica was created in 1991 and currently has over 300 member laboratories from across the world. It is an independent non-governmental institution providing accreditation for analytical labs. The Silver Mole award was established in 2002 to annually honor one of the accredited laboratories. The contenders go through several qualifying rounds, while the jury evaluates their equipment, personnel qualifications, management systems, as well as the testing quality and internal and external controls.