The food and beverages industry is among the fastest-growing industries across the world. However, it is essential for the manufacturers operating in this sector to follow specific standards of food safety and quality implemented by the regulatory bodies. They must ensure that their services, processes, and products meet all the regulatory standards. In such circumstances, food certification permits the market players of the food industry to achieve regulatory compliance, manage risk, and earn consumer trust.

A sufficient amount of nutritious and safe food is the key to promote good health and sustaining life. Unsafe food containing chemical substances, parasites, viruses, and bacteria leads to more than 200 diseases. As per the WHO, across the world, after eating contaminated food, almost 1 in 10 people that is approximately 600 million fall ill. Thus, growing necessity to minimize the burden of food-borne diseases as it leads to long-term diseases and death is the leading factor that is triggering the growth of the global food certification market. Further, there is increase in demand from consumers regarding better quality and safety of the food products which has drawn the attention of the key players towards food certification in order to earn consumer trust. This in turn is fostering the market expansion. In addition to this, growing demand for ‘Free-from’ certifications and strict regulations of the government are boosting the growth of the global market. Furthermore, increase in demand for food certification on meat, meat-based products, and seafood may offer lucrative opportunities and escalate the growth of the market during the forecast period.

The global food certification market is characterized based on type, supply chain, risk category, application, and region. The type segment is classified into ISO 22000, ‘Free-from’ certifications, KOSHER, HALAL, IFS, SQF, BRC, and others. The supply chain segment comprises retailers, manufacturers, growers, and others. Low-risk and high risk are categorized under the risk category segment. The global market includes applications in meat, poultry, & seafood products, ‘free-from’ foods, bakery & confectionery products, beverages, infant food products, dairy products, and other applications.

Europe is predicted to be the dominating region in the global food certification market followed by North America during the forecast period. Growing focus of the manufacturers on certifying the products and their production & processes, the presence of key market players in the UK & Germany, growing demand for food safety standards are some of the key aspects that are spurring the growth of the market in Europe. In North America, growing prevalence of food-borne diseases is the major factor that is fostering the growth of the market in this region.

The major players in the global food certification market include Control Union Certifications, Bureau Veritas, Lloyd’s Register, DNV, SGS, DEKRA, AsureQuality, TÜV SÜD, Eurofins, and Intertek.

Key Developments: In Jan 2021, with the acquisition of Orion’s Food Auditing Services, Bureau Veritas expanded its food certification business in Canada.