Micronutrients are essential for plant growth and animal and human health. They are required in relatively small amounts. Therefore they are also called trace elements.  Micronutrient availability in soils is very variable: from extreme deficiency to sometimes abundant availability and even toxicity. To correct shortages, micronutrient fertilization is common. Its success is variable, depending on soil characteristics and crop behaviour. Imbalances in micronutrient management may lead to reduced yield, poor crop quality and finally inadequate animal or human intake of micronutrients through food. Although soil testing is widely adopted to determine soil micronutrient status for fertilizer recommendation, results are far from satisfying. Thus far, soil-testing programs are generally based on empirical relationships with a weak correlation between micronutrient advice and crop response. Often high safety margins are used. This results in relatively high applications levels, with as a consequence loading of soils with heavy metals e.g. copper and zinc or extra leaching of nutrients. There is an urgent need to re-look into the problems of micronutrients in horticulture to overcome the hidden hunger, imbalance in nutrient application and improve soil and plant testing programs and fertilizer application strategies to obtain healthier fruits and vegetables with minimum use of micronutrient fertilizer.