World contract food testing industry growing at 9.4%

Food companies are increasingly sending quality and safety testing off-site to third party contract testing laboratories, a new report from US-based Strategic Consulting, Inc (SCI) says. In 2013, worldwide revenue for food contract testing labs will exceed $3 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 9.4%, the report observes.

The research firm’s Food Contract Lab Report (FCLR) is the first report to examine this market segment in detail, and reviews test volumes, revenues and emerging trends in quality and safety testing conducted by third party laboratories for food companies around the world, it said.

The volume of food testing conducted at contract labs is growing at a faster rate than the total food testing market, and is expected to continue to do so over the next five years, says the report.

As food companies began to realize that they could get timely and accurate test results from outside laboratories that focused on food quality and safety testing, the trend has accelerated. In addition, food quality standards such as HACCP and new regulations due to the US-FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) have increased the process, documentation and accreditation requirements for food quality and safety programs and laboratories, the report said.