The $500 billion worldwide food industry is dependent upon the scope and range of food preservation and shelf life extension technology. There are more than 17,000 food and beverage manufacturing/processing facilities in the U.S., and their sales totaled $265.5 billion in 2002. The main concern for all these manufacturers is the preservation and shelf life longevity of their products so as to impede spoilage, and ensure that the freshest, safest, most nutrient filled, and healthiest products are readily available to consumers. As markets change to reflect consumer preferences and concerns, a thorough understanding of the significance of this industry becomes vital to its financial success. According to a soon-to-be-released updated report from Business Communications Company, Inc. Food Preservation and Shelf-Life Extension: Techniques, Trends and Opportunities, the U.S. market for food preservation and shelf life extenders is estimated at $197 billion in 2003, a full 74% of the food processing industry. As such, the need for food preservation in the U.S.-whether through preservatives, packaging, encapsulation, irradiation or any of the older more traditional techniques-has experienced explosive growth over the past decade and is poised to increase by 5.5% on average annually through 2008. With the advent of new technologies, methods and techniques-to ensure that food is kept in pristine, nutritionally sound, and cost effective condition-the opportunities for impacting this dynamic and innovative market are increasing. The share of the U.S. food preservation market in the global market will increase to more than 40% by 2008. While chemically synthetic preservatives are suspect, "natural" chemical preservatives are growing in both stature and respect. In 2003, the chemical preservation industry was led by the sorbates, with annual sales of $162 million, or approximately 53% of all sales of chemical and natural preservatives. Consumption of sorbates also dominated, with a value of $143 million, or approximately 58% of the total consumed preservatives. The total sales for preservatives in 2003 was estimated at $306.3 million, with a 2.2% AAGR, while total production was estimated at $330 million, with a modest 2.1% AAGR until 2008. Ninety-eight percent of all foods are packaged in one way or another, and this segment of the preservation and shelf life extension industry remains the strongest and most innovative. The top 20 manufacturers combined to gross more than the next 80 manufacturers and more than the next 101-500 manufacturers in total sales. As more variety and technologically advanced packaging begins to come into prominence, the dependence on synthetic preservatives will decrease. This is in keeping with consumer concern that chemicals are directly linked to diseases. Solid growth in the $110 billion U.S. food packaging industry is seen in plastics, which will have a 5% AAGR over the next five years. This includes MAP, hard plastics, polymer films and other forms of plastic wrap. Metal packaging such as foils, however, are seeing a growth spurt. Though they represent only about 3.6% of the total units, or $17.9 billion, a 6.6% AAGR for the next five years is projected. The overall market for controlled-release technology continues to be fixated mostly towards the pharmaceutical end of the spectrum, but food uses are making modest gains nonetheless, with a 4% AAGR for the next five years. The encapsulated ingredients industry for food on the whole represented about $4.5 billion, or 33% of the total $13.6 billion market for controlled-release technology. The use of encapsulated ingredients in baked goods represents 30% of the total, but confections, with its modest $675 million market value, is seeing a rapid rise, with an approximate 4.6% AAGR possible to 2008.

U.S. and Global Sales for Food Preservatives and Shelf-Life Extenders, 2002 and 2008 ($ Billions)

	2003	2008	AAGR % 2003-2008
U.S.	196.8	257.7	5.5
Global	517.9	634.3	4.1
U.S. as % of Global Market	38.0	40.6