Seal of safety on global food market

In an interview, Robert Packer, Portfolio Director – IR, Discovery and Analytical Sciences, PerkinElmer Inc with Chemical Today magazine elaborates on the various parameters of food safety testing market that ensures the quality of food. He also talks about some of the latest technologies on board which has taken food safety to the next level.  

Food safety testing market to be worth more than $15 billion by 2019.

It is not surprising considering the huge economic consequences that a food safety recall can have on a food company that they are choosing to invest in food safety testing technologies. What needs to be considered is not just the immediate economic effect of the recall but also the effect on the brand reputation in terms of lost sales of that and other brand products as well as a wider public perception that can affect stock value. 

Various technologies used for food testing.

The food testing technologies used to depend on the nature of the threat.  Most organic chemical threats are detected by chromatography, either LC or GC often connected to a mass spectrometer. These threats can also be screened using FT-IR. For inorganic threats such as arsenic, technologies such as AA, ICP-OES and ICP-MS are used. For biological threats, as well as traditional cell culturing, there are faster techniques using immune-affinity or molecular diagnostic principles as well.

Regions with growth potential as food testing markets globally.

In recent years China has been a fast growing market for food safety testing due to the rapid growth of the food sector and the subsequent regulations that come from that. India has also experienced similar growth and subsequent regulations.  

Expansion of food & beverage industry to influence the food testing business.

The globalisation of food, whilst driving year round, lower cost offerings and more consumer choice has also complicated supply chains. These global, multi-stage supply chains can lead to ambiguity around suppliers further down the chain and subsequently leaves supply chains exposed to food fraud. As such, food testing at multiple points in the supply chain is essential to identify any issues as soon as possible. 

Meeting consumers’ demand for quality food, related to safety, hygiene and processed food.

As food is consumed by humans, food safety is the primary goal of food processors. This means that they employ a combination of strict hygiene rules as well as food safety tests to ensure consumers stay safe. PerkinElmer manufacturers many of the instruments used for these tests such GC/MS, ICP-MS, LC-MS/MS and IR. Furthermore, consumers are willing to pay a premium for certain characteristics of food that are perceived as desirable, such as country of origin. A good example of this is Italian olive oil or Canadian maple syrup. PerkinElmer is also assisting food processors in verifying country of origin using a variety of the techniques combined with chemometric analysis.

Factors supporting and impacting the growth of the food testing market.

Factors that have supported the growth of the industry include: 

• Globalization
• Increased reporting of food outbreaks
• Increased regulation
• Global warming leading to food scarcity

Factors that hamper the growth of the industry include: 

• Global economic downturn
• Fears of non-fact driven governments leading to deregulation of food agencies

Globalisation of food supply trade making an impact on the food testing market.

It is driving growth through global multinationals implementing western-style standards around the world and the growth of growing Asian national brands on the world stage needing to implement more stringent safety tests to export to the west. Globalisation also leads to more complex supply chains and therefore increased a risk of fraud or food safety events.

Business activities of your company.

PerkinElmer Inc is a global leader committed to innovating for a healthier world. The company reported revenue of approximately $2.3 billion in 2015, has approximately 8,000 employees serving customers in more than 150 countries. Our business is organised into two areas, Diagnostics and Discovery and Analytical Sciences (DAS). Inside the DAS business, traditional chromatography, molecular spectroscopy and mass spectrometry technology are engineered for food safety analysis.  In addition within DAS, we have fast growing food analysis businesses made up of the former Perten Instruments, Delta Instruments and Bio Scientific companies.

Assessing quality and safety of food supplies by the company.

PerkinElmer is a manufacturer of analytical devices so we do not directly analyse the samples themselves but supply the food processors and testing labs that do. An example of the type of analysis carried out in those labs is nutritional composition. If the analysis is for low levels of nutritional metals, this is typically carried out by AA, ICP or ICP-MS. For fats and sugars, typically chromatography is employed. Finally, if it is bulk parameters such as protein, moisture and fat are required, near infrared analysis is utilised.

Challenges faced by companies in food safety and testing industry.

In the food safety testing industry, the biggest challenge revolves around meeting company financial goals while ensuring that the products produced are safe to eat. Furthermore, staying one step ahead of food fraudsters (who are also often good chemists and know how to cheat existing tests) by implementing new detection technologies to identify new and varying threats is an ongoing struggle.

© Chemical Today Magazine

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