Abstract

The implementation of integrated farm-to-fork food safety systems to meet today’s stringent requirements forconsumer protection and the global trade in food commodities requires a well developed analytical capacity for contaminantsand residues. New technology for food safety and traceability applications is continuously being developed. Developingcountries frequently struggle to keep pace with technological developments. Effort may be better invested in optimising existingand proven methodology to tackle food safety problems. Revisions of international guidelines must recognise this and be riskratherthan technology-based. Only those emerging techniques that are robust, wide scope, cost-effective and applicable inthe medium to long term should be considered for use in developing countries to complement the more proven techniques.