The 100,000 inhabitants of Seychelles, a 115-island archipelago in the Indian Ocean, can now better trust the food products they buy thanks to the use of nuclear-based techniques.
Initiated in 2016, a four-year technical cooperation project led by the IAEA, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has helped increase food safety control capacities in the Seychelles. As a result, the Seychelles Public Health Laboratory can now detect carcinogenic substances called aflatoxins M1 in milk and dairy imports. At the same time, the government strengthened the national legal framework to better protect consumer health with respect to these contaminants.
Many small island developing states, sometimes referred to as SIDS, rely on food imports owing to their small size, topography and weather unsuited to agriculture. Monitoring and controlling contaminants such as mycotoxins, biotoxins and toxic metals in imported food products, as well as the residues of veterinary medicines and pesticides used in food production, is crucial to keep consumers safe and trusting.
“Thanks to IAEA and FAO support, we are now capable of conducting analysis for traces of a range of residues and contaminants in food, thus having the ability to better protect consumers from potential hazards in imported products,” said Leon Biscornet, Chief Laboratory Technologist at the Seychelles Public Health Laboratory. The ability to also certify the safety of food products destined for export markets helps to improve access to or keep those markets and can boost agricultural exports, he added.