Ms. Alya Batool, Team member served as stage secretary. Mr. Parwaiz Ahmed Baloch, Director FQSRI welcomed all participants and disclosed purpose of the event to aware regarding existence, health related issues, export restrictions and objectives of PHPMB project. He wished all participants would become able to improve their thoughts as well skills after attending the subject event.

Dr. Hamzah Shahbaz Bhatti, Program Officer, CABI highlighted the cooperation overview of USAID/USDA, CABI, and PARCfor the development of Aflatoxin biocontrol in maize and chilies. He informed that Pakistan was 4^th larger producer of red chillies, earning 6.9 million US dollars, the consignments were being rejected due to presence of aflatoxin therefore, suggested the use of biopesticide application to manage its spread in food system.

Dr. Najmus Sahar, SSO, FQSRI, PARC-SARC, Karachi illustrated the presence of Aflatoxin on cereal grains, chilies, dry fruits, nuts, milkand how to mitigate it during pre & post-harvest phases in chili crop. The participants were also informed about R&D activities along with diagnostic facilities being provided by the FQSRI, PARC-SARC related to the mycotoxin.

Dr. Atif Jamal PSO, CDRI, NARC, Islamabad highlighted occurrence and hazardous effects of aflatoxin on human and animal health.Further, aflatoxin status in Pakistan, its critical factors, decline in export of chillies, VGS analysis, co-infection experiment, characteristics of atoxigenic strain, importance and management of biocontrol technique through indigenous material in chili (var. Longi) at farm level were presented.

Dr. Khalid Aziz, Senior Manager, Agribusiness Rafhan Maize Product Co. Ltd during a virtual presentation described the revolutionary steps taken by Rafhan Maize as a success story of “Corn: The Case Study”. The development, application and registration of “AflaPak” were also briefed. He elaborated “Atoxigenic Competitive Exclusion” (ACE) as the best model to mitigate aflatoxin in maize and was a regional-specific phenomenon.

Honourable Chief Guest, Dr. Allah Ditta Abid, Director General, Department of Plant Protection, Karachi appreciated all resource persons of PARC-SARC, NARC, CABI, Rafhan Maize to disseminate technical information about food safety through biocontrol for chilli business related personnels. He stressed upon the development of regulatory limits of aflatoxin at national levelrelated with daily food need/usage.

Dr. Zakir Hussain Dahri, paid vote of thanks to participants, collaborators and organizers i.e., chilli business holders, USDA/USAID, CABI, and FQSRI, PARC-SARCand emphasized the need to enhance active collaboration among research institutes, academia, and industry to benefit the farming community. He underscored the importance of effective regulations by the relevantauthorities. Further he believed that addressing challenges linked to the rejection of international consignments due to issues such as aflatoxin and MRLs required concerted efforts.