 Agriculture is one of the main pillars of Chile's economy. With its quality wines and extensive fruit and meat industries, this South American country is a key player on global food markets. Apart from helping to fuel economic growth in this prospering nation, agriculture is also a major source of employment for Chileans. Chile's success as a food exporter is partly due to its quality controls. These ensure that food heading for overseas markets is safe to eat and meets international food safety standards. As the world population grows, so does demand for food, leading to an increase in the use of agrochemicals in farming. Pesticides are used to protect crops and animals from pests and diseases that can damage or even kill them. Medicines are given to livestock to treat diseases or stop them from getting sick. In the preparation of animal feed, substances are used to prevent animals from getting ill and to improve their diets. In most countries, including Chile, this all forms an important part of food production. But if these agrochemicals are not used properly, their residues can contaminate food. This contamination can make people sick, hinder food exports and cause financial losses for the country of origin. In Chile, food controls are conducted by the National Agricultural and Livestock Service, SAG. Inspectors routinely take samples at all major food production facilities in the country. At this busy chicken production facility, around 250,000 chickens are processed each day for sale throughout Chile and the world. A SAG team is based at this facility full-time. Vets take samples from the chickens seven days a week. Without the necessary certification from SAG, companies like this one could not sell their products on domestic or international markets. Certifications can be revoked, production and sales of food stopped if standards are not met. Samples are brought to SAG's National Food Quality Control Laboratory on the outskirts of the capital, Santiago. The IAEA has been supporting this laboratory for 15 years through its technical cooperation program. Support comes in the form of equipment, training and technical advice. Thanks to the IAEA's assistance, this laboratory now has 13 staff members and no longer needs to outsource its work to other labs, saving time and money. This laboratory uses nuclear and isotopic techniques to analyze over 1,500 samples a year. These highly specific methods are capable of detecting minute quantities of contaminants in food in a short time. Food safety problems can occur even with the raw ingredients for animal feed. Corn, for example, can contain mycotoxins. These are natural toxins caused by fungi. A method known as radio receptor determines whether these toxins are below levels that could cause health problems in animals and the people who eat them. Using carefully prepared meat samples, a procedure named atomic absorption spectrometry can measure levels of heavy metals such as lead, arsenic or mercury in food. These could come from nature or industry and contaminate animals through their drinking water or they could be present in animal feed. A further test on meat samples uses chromatography and mass spectrometry. By measuring stable isotopes, these techniques can see whether pesticide or pharmaceutical residues are present above the permitted levels. The use of insecticides on fruit and vegetables is carefully controlled in Chile. The technique used here can analyze 80 different types of these chemicals to show whether they've been overused and could cause health problems. With SAG's seal of approval, products can be shipped all over the world. After raw materials from mining, food is now Chile's second most important export commodity. The safety of Chilean food is not just an issue for international trade. SAG inspectors also make sure that food is safe for the domestic markets. Effective food safety controls benefit everyone. The farmers, the producers, the workers and the consumers.