Global food chains are the enabling environment for both international companies engaged in trade and commerce and for local enterprises supplying urban consumer markets. Retails outlets in the Northern countries offer food products from all over the world. Consumers expect to meet the same quality standards as locally produced foodstuffs. Southern countries can use the vehicle of international food chains for the improvement of the quality of the local/regional food chains through the integration of the knowledge on approaches on chain management and quality control, of course within the boundaries of the local parameters.

Through a process of active participation of Dutch and foreign firms, comparative research in southern countries, and learning and monitoring of project initiatives, the projects in this theme attempt to achieve the following:

• To develop and implement a review process of projects contributing to food quality and food safety, and to engage private and public parties in a learning process for the development of sustainable food chains;
• To contribute to innovation and technology policy in the context of global sourcing as well as to capacity building in a context of commercial and entrepreneurial development in developing countries;
• To construct ideas about possible public-private relationships in the context of global sourcing and regulation;
• To participate in policy debate about certification and regulation and to design protocols and forms of co-operation constituting transparent production systems;
• To accommodate an international scientific focus on global sourcing and supply chain management and to play a role in strategic matches in the design of food chains for local and export markets;
• To identify promising projects in specific market environments in southern countries, such as expanding urban markets in Southeast Asia or developing markets in Africa and, correspondingly, to contribute to policies which facilitate co-operation between Dutch industries and local enterprises;
• To explore new opportunities created by new technologies (ICT, transport etc.);
• To contribute to economic development in the South, through assisting in the set-up of efficient food chains.