Contribution of the methodology of collective expertise to the mitigation of food safety hazards in low- or medium-income countries

Food safety and quality is a major political topic due to numbers of deaths and hospitalizations all over the world due to food contamination, due to the increasing concern of consumers with public health related issues, due to increasing complexity of internationalization of food chains, along with the stronger sanitary standards set for international trade. Many constraints can explain the delays in the establishment of measures to prevent and control of food contaminants throughout the food value chains. Therefore, the availability of simplified tools that can be used to mitigate food safety hazards in low- and middle-income countries is a high priority internationally. The proposal addressed in this manuscript is to use the existing knowledge in local universities, private companies, citizen's organizations and to translate its proposals and scientific/technical advices to the national authorities, in a low cost manner. This translation is done by what is described here as Collective Expertise. Collective Expertise, can be a very powerful way to develop local strategies to solve problems and face the challenges of food safety and food security.