Government Analyst's Department was established in 1904 and is the central government laboratory. The department consists of two divisions, the Food Science and the Forensic Science. Food science division provides services towards public health. On the other hand Forensic Science division provides services mainly to law enforcement authorities in the area of crime investigation. In both divisions, there are specially trained scientists for the examination and analysis of samples forwarded by police, law court and other relevant institutes in the country.

The Food Division of the department composed of three laboratories as Food & Liquor, Milk and Water. Each section analyze samples and issue scientific reports to protect the public under the Food Act,Consumer Protection Act, Environment Protection Act, etc.. and analyse liquor under Excise Ordinance. The Forensic Division of the department has six major disciplines as Ballistic, Explosives, Questioned Document, Serology, Toxicology and Miscellaneous. Each section in the forensic carries out examination of evidence related to various crimes such as murder, rape, theft, hit and run, arson, fraud etc.

We work with the following Institutions such as Courts of Law and Labor Tribunals, Department of Police, Criminal Investigation Department, Department of Health, Department of Customs, Department of Excise, Sri Lanka Standards Institution, Consumer Affairs Authority, Sri Lanka Tea Board, Central Environment Authority, Sri Lanka Insurance Company, National Lotteries Board, Colombo Dockyard and other Government Departments and Law Enforcement Authorities.