New technology driving US food safety sales

New products designed to help food processors verify the safety of their products at every stage of the food production process.

Increased sales in a buoyant US market, a new report states.US demand for food safety products will increase by 6.5 per cent per year to US$3.2bn (€2bn) in 2012, according to a new study from the Freedonia Group, with the fastest growth coming from smart labels and tags that allow greater traceability of food products along the entire production chain.

Food safety: The demand for products that can help processors ensure that their products are safe has grown in the wake of a number of high profile food recalls and scares in the US.Concerns that some of the affected products could have been consumed by school children on the National School Meal Program prompted calls for tighter controls on food production - a job that could be made easier using new technology.

Labels and tags: Although traditional food safety products such as disinfectants and chemicals will continue to be the main weapons in the battle against food-borne diseases, Freedonia's report suggests that smart labels and tags will experience double-digit annual growth "due to rising demand for the added security and efficiency they can provide".

RFID, traceability: Smart labels include bar codes and radio frequency identification (RFID) chips that are by distributors to provide traceability information, and accounted for around seven per cent of the food safety products market in 2007. But bar code tag and label growth will be restrained due to a mature market, and eventual loss of market share to RFID tags in the longer term.Smart labels: However, it is smart label technology that is likely to drive the market the most, according to the report.

The Westland case - where meat from diseased animals passed into the human food chain - has highlighted the need for greater traceability, and Freedonia's report notes that better tracking of animals would allow government health inspectors to track down the source of an infectious agent far more rapidly.

Cost cutting: But using new technology will also help companies cut the cost of complying with ever more stringent traceability requirements: new US regulations require food and beverage companies to keep records that identify both what raw materials went into a specific food product and where the raw material was from, and to whom the food product was shipped, for a period of two years.

Source: foodqualitynews.com

Aporte: Guillermo Figueroa