Processors increase their use of biocides
to grow due to consumer's heightened awareness of bacteria and
pathogens.
The biocides industry will grow 4.2 per cent per year to become a $274 million market by 2010, says a report on the market by Freedonia.
Biocides are commonly used to prolong the shelf life of food and drink products and to protect them from enzymes, bacteria and other microorganisms.
Food processors are increasingly drawn to high-value biocides as their consumers ask for natural solutions to preserve food and to control and prevent food-born pathogens, states Freedonia.
The overwhelming majority of biocides in the food and beverage industry are used for preservation and to a lesser extent in water treatment.
New trends indicate that processors are beginning to use topical biocide preservatives on fresh meat, fish and poultry in display cases as an additional measure for food safety.
Manufacturers are also increasingly drawn to Sorbic acid and sorbates - long lasting preservatives that fight mold, bacteria and yeasts, says the Freedonia Group.
Sorbic acid and sorbates have the added advantage of being tasteless and odorless, which makes them particularly attractive to producers of juice, pickles, fish products, cheeses and baked goods that don't contain yeast.
Another outcome of the consumer movement against chemical additives has led the food and beverage industry to embrace biocide water treatments instead of more common treatments such as chlorine.
This is the first industry that has treated large volumes of water with ozone and ultraviolet technologies. These techniques use chlorinated isocyanurates and sodium bromide compounds to remove potentially dangerous organisms from water.
Organic acids such as sodium and potassium benzoate, sodium sorbate and calcium propionate make of 90 per cent of the food and beverage biocide market.
The expanding use of biocides, despite a forecasted stabilization of demand in the carbonated soft drink market, indicates manufacturers will spend an additional $45m on organic acids over the next four years, the report said.
