GIA releases market research on food safety

SAN JOSE, California - Food safety has emerged as a major challenge for countries across the world. Increased consumer preference for fresh, healthy and minimally processed foods, such as prepackaged salads, home meal replacements and fresh pastas and sauces, presents enormous challenges for food companies to control food contamination. Rise in the number of cases related to food borne diseases and growing public awareness about the harmful effects of consuming contaminated food and food products has brought into limelight the issue of food safety and its testing. In recent times, several food products have been recalled due to contamination with Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, Botulinum toxin and other contaminants. Product recalls and disease outbreaks have proven detrimental to the companies in question, with loss of reputation, revenues, brand presence, and in extreme instances bankruptcies. Worldwide food safety testing market has been growing at a remarkable pace in the past few years, primarily driven by the growing number of food-borne illnesses. Further, adoption of increasingly stringent regulations and the growing participation of private sector players have proven favourable for the market. In particular, pathogen testing market has been subjected to stringent regulations, thereby fuelling demand in the food diagnostics market. Growth in the coming years would also be driven by the fact that an increasing number of countries adopting appropriate measures for food safety testing.

Global Industry Analysts, Inc. further said that food safety testing market was temporarily affected by the global economic downturn, resulting in a slower pace of growth in the years 2008 and 2009. Though the economy recovered from the recession in 2011, the process faced stiff challenges in view of the European sovereign debt crisis. The food safety testing market is less susceptible to the economic volatility owing to the fundamental human need for consuming food and beverages. Further, growing demands from government agencies as well as consumers, specifically in developed nations, for safer foods and beverages bode well for the food testing market. Growth is also attributed to the rising concerns over food safety and the increasing demand for food safety tests from food processing companies, particularly in the wake of several food scandals in the recent past. Europe, in particular, has faced several food scandals in 2011, which contributed to the considerable rise in consumer awareness about food safety. These scandals have in turn strengthened calls for stronger tests and regulations for ensuring safety of food products. This has led food manufacturers and processors to forge for including more number of tests, and also seek services of labs with enhanced capabilities and greater reach.

As stated by the new market research report on Food Safety Testing, the United States represents the largest regional market worldwide. Expansion and diversification of the US fonike