The three days of the EurepGAP conference could be more effective in breaking down trade barriers than the considerably higher profile meeting of more than 150 trade ministers in Cancún.

This was the opinion of Fons Schmid, vice president of Royal Ahold's food safety and consumer health division, who predicted that the WTO gathering "would not get much out of the meetings. What we do at this conference is very, very important and we must not forget that," he said.

Schmid said he does not believe in the future of global standards, because "consumer perceptions all over the world have different perceptions. Standards can include sustainability and animal welfare, for instance, but they mean completely different things to people in different regions."

In Europe, for instance, "the European Food Standards Agency will never be able to have a real impact on food safety - that is down to the industries themselves." Following this ethos, Ahold, he said, prefers to concentrate on bilateral action. The retail behemoth has insisted that all suppliers to its Albert Heijn chain have been EurepGAP compliant since the beginning of 2003. He highlighted a project with Blue Skies in Ghana, which was established with Ahold three years ago and now sees 500 local people employed packing certified mixed fruit salads for the Dutch and US markets. "What our customers want all over the world is virtually impossible to deliver in these competitive times. There is no room for price increases and that is where standards come into play. We have to form alliances ... [the project in Ghana] has shown that it can be done in a tropical climate - and all to EurepGAP standards," he said.

Schmid is also vice president of the Global Food Safety Initiative, an alliance of more than 50 of the world's biggest retailers that looks at food safety issues from a non-competitive perspective. "The key priority of the initiative is to create a benchmark model for [private food safety standards," he said.

"There are lots of problems still to be solved with pesticides and chemicals - still today we get too much fruit and veg with residues that are not allowed on them. There has to be more flexibility in the future and closer alliances with stakeholders will help us learn from each other."

Schmid concluded: "Although governments always have to maintain their role as police officers, inspecting vulnerable parts in the food chain, we believe the main focus for the future of successful worldwide agri-food business has to be a closer co-operation between public and private players in the food chain, stimulating efficiency, transparency, food safety, environmental protection, animal health and quality and eliminating barriers to trade."

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