The global food traceability market size is estimated to be valued at USD 16.8 billion in 2020 and projected to reach USD 26.1 billion by 2025, recording a CAGR of 9.1% during the forecast period. The demand for food traceability is increasing significantly, as increase in the concern about safe food due to COVID-19 in recent times. Also, the consumers are being more and more conscious about safety of the products that reach them.
Opportunities: Government contribution to offer opportunities for the adoption of food traceability systems
Stringent regulations set by the government in developed regions, such as Europe, are projected to further highlight the importance of food safety across all stages of the supply chain. For instance, EFSA (European Food Safety Agency) is raising the awareness of food safety in Europe and amendments are made in the General Food Law Regulation to improve risk assessment across the food supply chains. This will present opportunities for the adoption of traceability systems to assess and mitigate risks associated with food contamination.
According to the food safety director of the WHO, in the Eastern Europe and Central Asian regions, where food is dealt with by more than five ministries, a good level of communication should exist between the parties to ensure the safety of food from production to inspect food products. These trends would contribute to the growing demand for food traceability technologies and software to trace food product contamination.
Regulatory bodies, such as CDC, US FDA & USDA’s FSIS are closely collaborating at the federal level to promote food safety in the US. These bodies are enhancing capacities and improving surveillance and investigation of foodborne infections through PulseNet, the Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence, and other programs. This would present opportunities for technological developments in the food traceability market as they are effective in detecting the source of contamination, thereby identifying the source of foodborne infections.
Challenges: Additional cost requirements for traceability systems
End-to-end food traceability systems are expensive and challenging to implement. Traceability helps to minimize various kinds of costs, including the packaging cost, the cost of rejected products, and the cost involved in the recall of contaminated food products. In comparison to the cost of record, product differentiation, and cost of certifying a product against certain standards, the cost of the establishment of a traceability system creates a burden on food manufacturers. The establishment of traceability systems includes the installation of hardware, software, systems engineering, training, support, and system upgrades, which is comparatively expensive.
High-end technologies, such as RFID and blockchain, used for effective food traceability, are associated with high costs. Furthermore, an increased focus on system upgrades and the necessity for accuracy and reliability of data further results in an increase in the cost of these traceability systems. The cost of procuring these technologies is high for food manufacturers, particularly in low and middle-income economies.
The cost related to advanced food traceability systems is considered a barrier and a major challenge for their mass adoption. With the continuous increase in demand for food traceability to address food safety issues globally, a large number of traceability tags are produced every year. This is projected to increase the cost of silicon-based tags that contain a unique serial number of food products. However, it is likely that with the increase in the adoption of food traceability technologies, the costs are likely to decline. This is projected to drive the growth of the food traceability market.
Key players in this market include C.H. Robinson (US), Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (US), OPTEL GROUP (Canada), OPTEL GROUP (Canada), Cognex (US), Honeywell International Inc. (US), SGS SA (Switzerland), Zebra Technologies (US), Bar Code Integrators (US), Carlisle (US), Merit-Trax (Canada), FoodLogiq (US), Safe Traces (US), Food Forensics (UK), Bext360 (US), rfxcel (US), Covectra (US), SMAG (France), SMAG (France), TE-Food (Germany), Mass Group (US), Source Trace (US), Trace One (US), Crest Solutions (Ireland), Traceall Global (UK), and VeeMee (Croatia).
