State of affairs and future directions of product quality assurance in Europe

Beneficial arthropods will only become a mainstream pest-management tool when good-quality organisms are constantly available and when sufficient knowledge and technical support are provided for farmers for the proper use of these natural enemies. These requirements demand great challenges from the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inQuality Control and Production of Biological Control Agents pp. 215 - 224
Main Author Bolckmans, K. J. F
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published Wallingford, UK CABI Publishing 2003
CABI
Subjects
animals
arthropods
beneficial arthropods
beneficial organisms
beneficial species
biocontrol agents
biological control agents
biological control organisms
eukaryotes
invertebrates
natural enemies
Pest control
quality assurance
quality controls
Europe
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Summary:Beneficial arthropods will only become a mainstream pest-management tool when good-quality organisms are constantly available and when sufficient knowledge and technical support are provided for farmers for the proper use of these natural enemies. These requirements demand great challenges from the producers of natural enemies in all phases of production and transport of biocontrol agents. In this chapter, the history of quality control of biocontrol agents in Europe is sketched and the future of guideline development is discussed. Furthermore, it is argued that the biocontrol industry should move from quality control to quality assurance, because quality assurance looks at product quality from a proactive viewpoint, while quality control is a retrospective activity that focuses only on the quality of a product at the end of the production chain. Aspects of quality assurance during production and transport are described. Finally, the issue of certification of product quality is discussed.
ISBN:9780851996882
0851996884
DOI:10.1079/9780851996882.0215