FOOD SAFETY INSIGHTS
A Look at the Microbiology
Testing Market
How the changing analytical
landscape can help your
business
Welcome to Food Safety Insights—a collaboration between the industry experts at Food Safety Magazine and the food safety market experts at Strategic Consulting Inc. (SCI) to bring you the
latest market research, insights and trends in food safety,
analytical testing, diagnostics, laboratory services, sanitation and related topics in quality and safety testing and
assurance in the food and beverage industry.
Each column will review a market topic in food safety and provide up-to-date facts and figures not available
anywhere else. Our insights come from primary research
conducted regularly with food processors and laboratories throughout the United States and around the world,
from SCI’s primary market research data and from Food
Safety Magazine’s in-depth knowledge and resource network.
This article reviews the overall microbiology testing
market, enabling you to align these trends with your
business strategies and optimize your food safety system, no matter where you are in the supply chain. Subsequent columns will address similar topical issues and
data and present an analysis of what it means for the
food industry as a whole.
Micro Testing
In 2016, the global food microbiology market totaled
1.14 billion tests, up from 966 million tests in 2013 (and
738 million tests in 2008).
Total viable organisms, coliforms/
Escherichia coli, yeast/mold and
Staphylococcus compose the routine microbiology tests generally used in the food
processing industry as indicators of the
presence and/or levels of microorganisms in a plant or food product. In
2016, these routine tests were estimated
to account for more than 860 million
tests, 75. 4 percent of all microbiology
tests conducted, up from 742 million
tests and 76. 8 percent of all tests performed in 2013 (Figure 1). This reduction in the proportion of routine tests
is not for lack of growth in the category,
which we estimate is growing at approximately 5.0 percent annually, but
is more likely from the impact of the
much faster growth in the volume of
pathogen testing.
Testing for pathogens makes up the
remaining volume of microbiology
testing; in 2016, we estimate that more
than 280 million tests for pathogens,
or 24. 6 percent of microbiology test
volume, will have been performed, up
from 224 million tests and 23. 2 percent
in 2013, accounting for 7. 7 percent
growth (compound annual growth rate,
or CAGR).
That pathogen test volumes are
growing faster than microbiology test
volumes in general is a continuation of
a long-term trend. In 1998, for example,
SCI reported routine tests as 86.3 per-
By Bob Ferguson
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0 2008 2013 2016
Routine
Pathogen
Te
s
t
Nu
m
ber,
Mill
io
n
s
Figure 1. Micro Test Volume, Worldwide
