According to a new report published by Allied Market Research titled,"Food Traceability (Tracking Technologies) Market by Equipment, Technology, End-User, and Application: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018 - 2025,"food traceability market size was valued at $10,963.0 million in 2017, and is expected to reach $22,274.1 million by 2025, registering a CAGR of 9.3% from 2018 to 2025.

Food traceability (tracking technologies) involves screening the movement of food & related products via their production, processing, and distribution. As food production consists of various stages, including sourcing seeds & fertilizers, farming, harvesting, processing, storage, transportation, and retail sales, there are risks associated, such as contamination, making it imperative to have a food traceability system. The procedures involved during this include identification, link, records of information, collection & storage of information, and verification. The primary purpose of food tracking is food safety and prevention from food-borne diseases, thus being directly related to the health of consumers. The global food traceability (tracking technologies) market is segmented based on equipment, technology, application, end user, and region.

Currently, the food traceability market is well established in developed countries such as the U.S., the UK, Japan, Australia, and others, due to early implementation by corporate professionals and government policies supporting food traceability in these countries. Currently, food can be sourced through any part of the world, which possesses a major challenge for traceability. Emerging nations, such as India, China, Korea, and others, are in the process of adopting strict traceability systems due to increase in awareness & knowledge among the general population and improvement in lifestyle of people, thus driving rapid growth of the food traceability market in Asia-Pacific.

Competitive edge, brand loyalty, better flow of information upstream & downstream of supply chain, and legislative framework are few other drivers of the global market. The major factor that restricts this growth is additional cost associated with the entire procedure.

Corporate companies in the food market understand the importance of implementing traceability, in terms of reducing cost in recall scenarios, which is expected to improve consumer confidence and enhance the companys image. Developing nations are witnessing highest growth rates in the global food traceability market, owing to increase in health consciousness among people and upsurge in familiarity associated with significance of effective food traceability system.

All developed nations have adopted the traceability system at an early stage owing to formulation of legislative laws pertaining to food traceability. Consumer health can have a direct impact on the national budget, if there is a severe outbreak of food-borne illnesses and the source of the food causing the disease cannot be traced. This enforced governments in developed economies to develop stringent legislations to avoid uncalled situations that impact health of the common populace. In addition, owing to globalization and increased awareness, developing countries are framing laws to implement a robust food traceability system. Thus, this is a key driver for food traceability market growth.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in charge of the regulating food traceability laws, whereas in Europe, the EU General Food Law governs the relating laws. Among the emerging nations, China, India, and Brazil have passed food traceability laws and others are following the same trend.

However, governments of few developing nations lack on formulating stringent laws, thus restricting the food traceability market growth. Therefore, the traceability system in these countries is not implemented effectively. In developed countries, many manufacturers have initiated the use of traceability even without legislative initiatives by the respective governments. As there are no significant technological developments in certain emerging nations, the key food manufacturers do not look forward to any such initiatives, although few developing countries, such as China, India, Brazil, and others, are strictly following food safety standards.
Barcode is the most widely used technology in food traceability market due to its cost-effectiveness. This technology makes use of a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) to achieve traceability. A GTIN includes a GS1 (a neutral, not-for-profit, international organization that develops and maintains standards for supply and demand chains) company prefix and a unique item reference number compatible with universal product bar codes or human readable codes. Technology-based scanners are outdated and have been replaced by scanners with multi-dimensional readability. Various mobile software developing companies have developed software that communicate with the scanner from smartphones, which reduces the cost of excess machinery. DNA barcoding is currently incorporated as an effective tool to identify the biological condition of organisms to identify food contamination, and identification of alteration to protect the health of the consumer.

In 2017, the meat & livestock application occupied almost half of the share of the food traceability market, followed by fresh produce and seeds. However, this trend is expected to decline to some extent during the forecast period, owing to the highest growth rate of fisheries application. The main end users employing food traceability (tracking technologies) are food retailers and food manufacturers. Moreover, these segments occupied a major portion of food traceability market share in 2017, and are expected to grow at lucrative CAGRs, during the forecast period. 2D & 1D scanners, tags & labels, and thermal printers are the main equipment used in the global food traceability industry, which collectively occupied more than three-fourths share in 2017.
Key findings of the Food Traceability (Tracking Technologies) Market:

Based on equipment, the sensors segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.9% in terms of value in the food traceability market during the forecast period.
North America is expected to dominate the food traceability market, registering a significant CAGR of 5.9% in terms of value.
Asia-Pacific food traceability market is projected to show exponential growth throughout the forecast years, growing at a CAGR 14.9%, in terms of value.
Based on technology, the barcode segment is anticipated to dominate the food traceability market, registering a CAGR of 7.5%.
Based on end user, the food retailers segment accounted for more than one-third share of the food traceability market in 2017.

Key leading players operating in food traceability market are Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., CH Robinson Worldwide Inc., Cognex Corporation, E. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont), Honeywell International Inc., International Business Machines Corporation, Motorola Solutions, Inc., SGS SA, Zebra Technologies Corporation, and MASS Group Inc.