In 2020, the State Laboratory was considered an essential service and remained open throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the number of food and feed samples submitted for testing dropped significantly during April and early May, the shortfall was made up during the remaining months of the year. There was a 33% reduction in the overall number of customs and excise samples submitted as Revenue officials were doing less on-site inspections and in the Coroners area, sample numbers actually increased by 6% during the year. Overall, 13,481 samples were received in 2020, a reduction of 5% on 2019 and just 4% less than the target of 14,000.