For some time now, Strategic Consulting has been following the increasing trend at food production companies around the world to send food quality and safety testing to third party contract testing laboratories. This year in fact, total revenues for food contract test labs are estimated to reach $3.05 billion, up from $1.95 billion just five years ago, at a healthy compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4% worldwide.Contract testing labs offer a range of services to food producers, but chief among them are microbiology testing to detect food pathogens, and chemistry testing for nutritional analysis or contaminants such as pesticides and toxins. Other services can include food safety program development, plant audits and field assessments.The first-ever report to examine the food contract test lab business in detail, SCI's Food Contract Lab Report tracks the revenues, test volumes and services of outside testing labs, which are becoming increasingly integral to food producers and their food safety testing programs. The Report includes revenues, test volumes and growth rates by geographic region (North America, Europe, Asia, and the rest of the world) and by business area (microbiology, chemistry and services).

SCI's Report also examines the drivers for the dramatic growth in contract testing laboratories, which include the increasing trend of food production facilities to send food samples outside for analysis. The Report provides detailed market forecasts through 2018, and discusses the potential for even greater growth over the next five years, including the impact of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and possible lab accreditation requirements for all food testing laboratories.

As with all Strategic Consulting market reports, the Food Contract Lab Report is based on extensive market research including detailed interviews with managers of leading food contract labs.