needs to those who rely on others for protection and sup­port (Bruemmer, 2003). Food safety will continue receiving attention in both industrialized and in less developed coun­tries (Unnevehr, 2003) because (1) The "demand" for safe food rises as income increases. Consumers become willing to pay more for food with lower risk of microbial contami­nation, pesticides, and other disease-causing substances; (2) As technology improves, it is easier to measure contami­nants in food and document their impact on human health; (3) Trade liberalization has increased opportunities for ag­ricultural exports, and food safety regulations have become the binding constraint on food trade in many cases; (4) International food scares, such as BSE and avian flu, have made consumers, producers, and legislators more aware of the risks associated with agricultural food safety problems (Unnevehr, 2003; Narrod et al., 2005).

     Appropriate food safety regulation is considered fun­damental to expand product export from developing coun­tries (Babu and Reidhead, 2000; Pinstrup-Andersen, 2000). However, the increased food safety standards are particu­larly worrisome in terms of food security and the livelihood of the poor as multinational retail companies that dominate the market often exclude small growers that find it difficult to meet foreign as well as domestic standards (Narrod et al., 2005). Labeling will be likely used to demonstrate that the food is safe to eat, however, a highly stringent label regulation, including description of origin of the ingredients of processed agricultural products, could inevitably create an unnecessary obstacle to future trade agreements (Matten, 2002).

     Producers face four distinct problems: (1) How to pro­duce safe food; (2) How to be recognized as producing safe food; (3) How to identify cost-effective technologies for re­ducing risk; (4) How to be competitive with larger producers who have the advantage of economies of scale in compliance for food safety requirements (Narrod et al., 2005). For some developing countries several constraints hamper the prog­ress in implementing food safety regulations, including lack of human capacity, importance of food safety in the politi­cal agenda and inadequate postharvest and laboratory infra­structure and organization (Babu and Reidhead, 2000).

     The continuous increase in urban development embed­ded within agricultural production areas raises concerns since it may affect both the quality of living and the safe-ness of final crop products. The risks posed by agricultural production systems in urban areas to health and environ­ment may be associated with the inappropriate use of agri­cultural chemicals (pesticides, nitrogen, phosphorus) which may contaminate drinking water sources; cause air pollu­tion (carbon dioxide and methane from organic matter, ammonia, nitrous oxide and nitrogen oxide from nitrates); and create odor nuisance (Carvalho, 2006). Further, close proximity of great number of people and domestic animals to production areas, accompanied with high population of wildlife creates an ideal scenario for potential disease sources (e.g., warm-blooded animals, humans) and vectors (e.g., animals, insects) to increase the risk for contamination of irrigation water and crop plants. Optimal management of urban resources and well established good agricultural practices are needed for sustainable agricultural production (Fonseca, 2006).

5.5.3.2 Identified routes

Food safety hazards can be encountered anywhere, from the farm to the table. Therefore efficient control programs are needed throughout the whole supply chain (Todd et al., 2006) especially because no intervention mechanism, other than irradiation, is currently available to completely de­contaminate agricultural commodities eaten raw (Fonseca, 2006). The demand for products with high standards of overall quality and safety will continue to grow in industri­alized countries. Meanwhile in developing countries, better quality standards will only occur if consumers are educated about the benefits of consumption of perishable products, if public health regulation and liability laws are established, and if better surveillance and analysis capacity is built (Ber­degué et al., 2005). The development of a national food safety "culture" in the future will be influenced by who will be the regulatory/audit agents and to what extend the differ­ent actors will be involved (Schlundt, 2002; Reardon et al., 2003; Codron et al., 2005; Carvalho, 2006)

    In one scenario, private rather than public standards will continue to be the predominant drivers of agri-food sys­tems (Henson and Reardon, 2005). In developing countries where institutional capacity often limits the enforcement of mandatory public standards, firms will continue relying on private standards (Loader and Hobbs, 1999). The pri­vate sector will need to develop better training in certain agricultural practices. Implementation of quality and food safety control programs with intensive internal and external supervision can improve productivity rather than increase costs for consumers. In some developing countries large produce suppliers with dedicated and specialized perishable wholesalers will be able to save significant amount of sale-related costs as a result of production cost reduction with technical assistance, quality assurance systems and selection of preferred growers, in a semi vertical-integrated business (Berdegué et al., 2005).

     In a second scenario, governmental policies will have great influence on food safety issues. In the event of food safety crises, governments will react by creating state food safety agencies, certifying and monitoring the implementa­tion of standards and record keeping, increasing the rigor of minimum quality standards and establishing new rules for product traceability (Codron et al., 2005). In some develop­ing countries the role of the government will still be amply intensive even in a private sector-leading scenario. This is because the infrastructure for examining water and prod­uct samples might not be economically feasible for private agencies, which in turn will force the government to pro­vide the service (Berdegué et al., 2005). Moreover, in some developed and developing countries, with a leading private sector in the food safety area, governments will also play an important role through the establishment of job benefits. An important amount of workers and produce handlers are willing to work when they are ill because they can't afford to stay at home without pay (Fonseca and Nolte, 2007).

    For some developing countries several constraints ham­per progress in implementing food safety regulations, in­cluding lack of human capacity, lack of importance of food safety in the political agenda and inadequate postharvest and laboratory infrastructure and organization (Babu and