Food and agricultural testing is conducted to ensure that food is safe for human consumption. Issues such as the
recent U.K. horse meat contamination, mad cow disease, hormone-tainted milk powder in China, infections caused
by salmonella bacteria, as well the increasing popularity of genetically modified produce, are expected to increase
demand for this type of testing, particularly as regulatory controls become more stringent. In addition, some
clients are requiring tests to verify the nutrition information presented on products.
The global food testing market is estimated to be worth close to US$10–12 billion, of which 70% is outsourced and
Europe holds 60% of the market 5 . Unlike the minerals industry, it is difficult to achieve EBIT margins over 20%
given the vast number of testing methods in food and the highly technical nature of testing. However, the food
testing sub-sector tends to be less affected by global macroeconomic movements as minimum standards are still
required to be adhered to under all circumstances.