Chips vs. Chips - Do We Really Care About Our Food Quality and Safety?

How much does the agri-food industry really spend to make sure the food on our plates is safe and high-quality?

There’s a whole market segment called TIC (Testing, Inspection & Certification). It doesn’t get much attention, yet it employs a few hundred thousand people globally. In the agri-food sector alone, TIC activities are worth around $10B, with another $15B spent by food companies on in-house quality systems. That’s roughly $25B in total.

At first, I was impressed — until I compared it with semiconductors, an industry I spent a good part of my career in. The chip industry spends $25–30B each year on inspection, testing equipment, services, and in-house QA. Pretty similar to the agri-food numbers… until you look at the ratios:

• Semiconductors: ≈ 3–5% of sales spent on inspection & testing (on a $630B global market, WSTS 2024).

• Agri-food: ≈ 0.3% of sales spent on safety & quality testing (on an $8.4T global market, Statista/IMARC).

That 10X+ gap raises a simple but uncomfortable question:

Are we really investing enough in the quality and safety of the food we eat every single day?

Years ago, a friend told me:

“When we buy a phone, a car, or any other product, we try to get the best we can afford. When we buy food, we often choose the cheapest option… and that goes into our bodies.”

Comments

This post is about creating awareness and promoting a discussion. The numbers are estimates from market researchers, and there are gaps between different reports. But the point remains clear: we are underinvesting in food quality and food safety.?