Increasing food trade across the borders of emerging markets increases the opportunity for the growth of this market. The increasing incidences of food-borne illnesses and improper sanitation & processing conditions in the factories in a few countries such as Indonesia strongly require the need for mycotoxin testing of food. China has been a potential food-importing & -exporting country; it is hence a key market. The inception of regulations in emerging economies that have entered the food trade, authorization of authorities to prohibit the import & supply of contaminated food and enforce food recalls, and nutrition labeling of foods are expected to increase the demand for testing services in these regions.
Moreover, growing cases of mycotoxicosis outbreaks from the emerging economies of Asia and Africa are projected to create high growth opportunities for the testing market in these regions. The developing countries are chronically exposed to the high levels of aflatoxins, fumonisins, and trichothecenes, which cause carcinogenicity, immunotoxicity, and growth retardation in animals.
Several studies in Nigeria have reported toxin levels far above the limits allowed by international regulatory agencies in food and agricultural products. In addition, fatal outbreaks of toxicities, resulting particularly from aflatoxins, have been widely reported in Nigeria. There is an urgent need to address the food safety and international trade issues associated with mycotoxin contamination in Nigerian consumer goods and agricultural products, because there is a huge problem of mycotoxin contamination in developing countries such as Nigeria, where there exists a dearth of organized scientific information and data on the magnitude of the problem.
What Challenges Arise Due Inappropriate Sample Collection & Standardization?
The food testing process has multiple stages, namely, raw material growing, procurement, processing, packaging, storage, and the supply chain. The exact number of samples required to be collected during testing is not yet standardized. Food and feed manufacturing or growing companies also face challenges in determining the appropriate sample size as this sample represents all the possible products in the food manufacturing value chain in sufficient quantity. A larger sample size would increase the chances of positive results. The testing laboratories do not receive a sufficient number of samples each time from their clients. This can be attributed to their customers’ lack of awareness about the quantity required for mycotoxin testing.
Standards regarding sample requirement are not published in a reliable reference form. Lack of information, in terms of sample standards, can cause several losses to testing labs. This lack of standardization in collecting samples has been affecting the end results; some testing labs have even lost their accreditation due to inappropriate results. Such issues have been restraining the growth of the testing market to some extent.
Launch of advanced technologies for detecting mycotoxins
Traditional technologies include traditional visual inspection and culturing methods. The traditional culturing technologies consume more amount of time to produce results, as the time required for mycotoxin testing is crucial for the quality of food. Thus, testing laboratories are looking for a shift from conventional mycotoxin testing methods to rapid testing ones, which are efficient to generate results within a few hours. Due to the reliability of test results offered by chromatography- & spectroscopy-based technologies, ELISA technology is projected to disrupt in the coming decade. Rapid testing methods such as chromatography and spectroscopy techniques are used to ensure timely analysis of a larger sample size, and thereby offering market growth opportunities in order to reduce the time for mycotoxin testing.
Europe is projected to account for the largest market share during the forecast period
Europe accounted for share of 39.1% in 2017 in the mycotoxin testing market. The food and feed testing mycotoxin policies have been strengthened by the contributed efforts from control laboratories (CLs), national reference laboratories (NRLs), and EU reference laboratories (EURLs). The growing prevalence of Fusarium toxins, due to the changing climatic conditions, is also fueling this market.
The key players profiled in this market include SGS (Switzerland), Bureau Veritas (France), Eurofins (Luxembourg), Intertek (UK), Mérieux NutriSciences (US), ALS Limited (Australia), Neogen (US), Romer Labs (US), Symbio Laboratories (Australia), OMIC USA (US), AsureQuality (New Zealand), and Microbac (US). These companies are focusing on strategies such as new service, technology, product launches, expansions & investments, acquisitions, agreements, collaborations, mergers, and partnerships to expand their operations across the globe.
