The food industry is the complex, global collective of diverse businesses that together supply much of the food energy consumed by the world population. Only subsistence farmers, those who survive on what they grow, can be considered outside of the scope of the modern food industry. Wall Street, Manhattan is the location of the New York Stock Exchange and is often used as a symbol for the world of business. ... Food energy is the amount of energy in food that is available through digestion. ... Map of countries by population —showing the population of the Peoples Republic of China and India, the only two countries to have a population greater than a billion. ... Like most farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, this Cameroonian man cultivates at the subsistence level. ...

The food industry includes:

• Regulation: local, regional, national and international rules and regulations for food production and sale, including food quality and food safety, and industry lobbying activities
• Education: academic, vocational, consultancy
• Research and development: food technology
• Manufacturing: agrichemicals, seed, farm machinery and supplies, agricultural construction, etc.
• Agriculture: raising of crops and livestock, seafood
• Food processing: preparation of fresh products for market, manufacture of prepared food products
• Marketing: promotion of generic products (e.g. milk board), new products, public opinion, through advertising, packaging, public relations, etc
• Wholesale and distribution: warehousing, transportation, logistics
• Retail: supermarket chains and independent food stores, direct-to-consumer, restaurant, food services

Food quality is the quality characteristics of food that is acceptable to consumers. ... Food safety is a scientific discipline describing the handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent Foodborne illness. ... It has been suggested that Interest representation: Academic overview be merged into this article or section. ... Plato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. ... Vocational education prepares learners for certain careers or professions, which are traditionally non-academic and directly related to a trade, occupation or vocation in which the learner participates. ... Management consulting is the process of helping companies to improve or transform themselves. ... The phrase research and development (also R and D or R&D) has a special commercial significance apart from its conventional coupling of scientific research and technological development. ... The food technology room at Marling School in Stroud, Gloucestershire. ... Manufacturing, a branch of industry which accounts for about one-quarter of the worlds economic activity, is the application of tools and a processing medium to the transformation of raw materials into finished goods for sale. ... Agrichemicals are sprayed onto areas to control pests and diseases, or weeds. ... A ripe red jalapeño cut open to show the seeds For other uses, see Seed (disambiguation). ... Agricultural machinery is one of the most revolutionary and impactful applications of modern technology. ... In large construction projects, such as skyscrapers, cranes are essential. ... Spaghetti with seafood (Spaghetti allo scoglio). ... Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food for consumption by humans or animals. ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Look up marketing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Commercialism redirects here. ... Packaging is the enclosing of a physical object, typically a product that will be offered for sale. ... Public relations (PR) is the business, organizational, philanthropic, or social function of managing communication between an organization and its audiences. ... Wholesaling consists of the sale of goods/merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services. ... Food distribution is a vital factor in public nutrition. ... Look up Logistics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Drawing of a self-service store. ... Exterior of a typical British supermarket (a Tesco Extra) Exterior of typical North American supermarket (a Safeway) This Flagship Randalls store in Houston, Texas is an example of an upscale supermarket. ... Toms Restaurant, a restaurant in New York made familiar by Suzanne Vega and the television sitcom Seinfeld A restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to order, to be consumed on the premises. ...

Overview

Essentially, the food industry involves the commercial movement of food from field to fork. The modern food industry is the result of technological and cultural changes that have occurred over the last 150 years. Traditionally, over thousands of years, food production was centered around two activities: Commerce is the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money between two or more entities. ... By the mid 20th century humans had achieved a mastery of technology sufficient to leave the surface of the Earth for the first time and explore space. ... Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... A year is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. ...

1. Labor-intensive agricultural activities, the farming of grain, produce and livestock;
2. Personal food preparation, where individuals and families acquire raw and minimally processed ingredients, and prepare them for their own consumption.

A significant percentage of the population was directly involved in farming, and in the process, many people actually fed themselves, from field to table. By contrast, the modern food industry relies far more on technology, particularly on mechanization and biochemistry, than on human and animal labor. In this way, food is raised, manipulated, preserved and moved around, resulting in a food industry that is to a great degree global in nature, with food and related resources travelling great distances. For example, farm machinery and parts from Europe and agrichemicals from the US may routinely travel to farms in South America, where farm products are raised and shipped to North America for fresh market consumption, or for use in processed foods which may then travel to further points around the world. The point at which foods are gathered and prepared has also become fragmented: much of what we eat has already been assembled for consumption. Farming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). ... This article is about cereals in general. ... Produce on display at La Boqueria market in Barcelona, Spain. ... Sheep are commonly bred as livestock. ... Mechanization is the use of machines to replace manual labour or animals and can also refer to the use of powered machinery to help a human operator in some task. ... Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes and transformations in living organisms. ...

This modern food system relies heavily on technology, transportation, management and logistics for physical fulfillment, and on marketing and government regulation for maintaining an efficient consumer market. An incredibly wide range of businesses and individuals are employed by and profit from all aspects of this huge and complex system. A tremendous amount of governmental regulation and administration is also involved in this continual flow of materials, food products, and related information.

Definitions

Food industry is not a formally defined term, however, it is usually used in a broadly inclusive way to cover all aspects of food production and sale. The Food Standards Agency, a government body in the UK, describes it thus:

"...the whole food industry – from farming and food production, packaging and distribution, to retail and catering."^[1]

The Economic Research Service of the USDA uses the term food system to describe the same thing:

"The U.S. food system is a complex network of farmers and the industries that link to them. Those links include makers of farm equipment and chemicals as well as firms that provide services to agribusinesses, such as providers of transportation and financial services. The system also includes the food marketing industries that link farms to consumers, and which include food and fiber processors, wholesalers, retailers, and foodservice establishments."^[2] or nearly 10 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Over 16.5 million people are employed in the food industry.

IMF 2005 figures of total GDP of nominal compared to PPP. Absolute, not adjusted for population. ...

Agriculture

Main article: Agriculture

Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by the cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). The practice of agriculture is also known as "farming", while scientists, inventors and others devoted to improving farming methods and implements are also said to be engaged in agriculture. More people in the world are involved in agriculture as their primary economic activity than in any other, yet it only accounts for four percent of the world's GDP.

Food processing

Main article: Food processing Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food for consumption by humans or animals. ...

Food processing is the methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food for human consumption. Food processing takes clean, harvested or slaughtered and butchered components and uses them to produce marketable food products.

Link titleInsert non-formatted text here--220.225.146.132 06:22, 30 March 2007 (UTC)kirti== Wholesale and distribution ==

A vast global transportation network is required by the food industry in order to connect its numerous parts. These include suppliers, manufacturers, warehousing, retailers and the end consumers.is industry & technology said about preservasing & teach to save it .

Retail

With populations around the world concentrating in urban areas,^[3] food buying is increasingly removed from all aspects food production. This is a relatively recent development, taking place mainly over the last 50 years. The supermarket is a defining retail element of the food industry, where tens of thousands of products are gathered in one location, in continuous, year-round supply.

Food preparation is another area where change in recent decades has been dramatic. Today, two food industry sectors are in apparent competition for the retail food dollar. The grocery industry sell fresh and largely raw products for consumers to use as ingredients in home cooking. The food service industry offers prepared food, either as finished products, or as partially prepared components for final "assembly". Foodservice is a business term which is mostly synonymous with catering. ...

Food industry technologies

Sophisticated technologies define modern food production. They include many areas. Agricultural machinery, originally led by the tractor, has practically eliminated human labor in many areas of production. Biotechnology is driving much change, in areas as diverse as agrichemicals, plant breeding and food processing. Many other areas of technology are also involved, to the point where it is hard to find an area that does not have a direct impact on the food industry. Computer technology is also a central force, with computer networks and specialized software providing the support infrastructure to allow global movement of the myriad components involved.It is sunrise growest industry .In future there is lots of vecancy for food technologiests.

Marketing

As consumers grow increasingly removed from food production, the role of product creation, advertising, publicity become the primary vehicles for information about food. With processed food as the dominant category, marketers have almost infinite possibilities in product creation.

Regulation

The smooth flow of international trade is critical to the functioning of the modern food industry. Government regulations have to be synchronized to some greater degree to allow this.

Labour and education

Until the last 100 years, agriculture was labor intensive. Farming was a common occupation. Food production flowed from millions of farms. Farmers, largely trained from generation to generation, carried on the family business. That situation has changed dramatically. In North America, over 50% of the population were farm families only a few decades ago; now, that figure is around 1-2%, and some 80% of the population lives in cities. The food industry as a complex whole requires an incredibly wide range of skills. Several hundred occupation types exist within the food industry.

Research and development

Research in agricultural and food processing technologies happens in great part in university research environments. Projects are often funded by companies from the food industry. There is therefore a direct relationship between the academic and commercial sectors, as far as scientific research.

Prominent Food Companies

Monsanto is a leading producer of pesticide, seeds, and other farming products. The Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) is a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. ...

Both Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill process grain into animal feed and a diverse group of products. ADM also provides agricultural storage and transportation services, while Cargill operates a finance wing. The Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM), based in Decatur, Illinois, operates more than 270 plants worldwide, where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into numerous products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial and animal feed markets worldwide. ... Cargill, Incorporated is a privately held, multinational corporation, and is based in the state of Minnesota in the United States. ...

Bunge is a global soybean exporter and is also involved in food processing, grain trading, and fertilizer. The word/term bunge can have several meanings: The Bunge is the local name of Tanzanias unicameral National Assembly. ...

Dole Food Company is the world's largest fruit company. Chiquita Brands International, another US based fruit company, is the leading distributor of bananas in the United States. Sunkist Growers, Incorporated is a U.S. based grower’s cooperative. Dole Food Company, Inc. ... Chiquita Center in downtown Cincinnati Chiquita Brands International Inc. ... Sunkist Growers, Incorporated is a citrus growers non-stock membership cooperative comprised of 6000 members from California and Arizona. ... For cooperative as used in biochemistry, see cooperative binding. ...

Tyson Foods is the world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken and the largest beef exporter from the United States. Smithfield is the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. Tyson Foods, Inc. ... Smithfield is the name of several places in England, the United States of America, Ireland, Australia and South Africa. ...

Nestlé is the world's largest food and beverage company. The Altria Group owns 88.1% of Kraft Foods, the largest U.S. based food and beverage company. Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch company that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods and beverages. This article is about the company. ... Altria Group, Inc. ... Kraft Foods Inc. ... Unilever (Euronext: UNA, LSE: ULVR, NYSE: UN) is an Anglo-Dutch company that owns many of the worlds consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. ...

Sysco Corporation, mainly catering to North America and Canada, is one of the world's largest food distributors. SYSCO Corporation (NYSE: SYY) is in the largest provider in the food service distribution business. ...

References

• Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture

External links

• Agribusiness, Food Industry and Forest Industry Associations on the Internet (1998)
• Food processing knowledge portal
• Food Business Review
• Portal for the Food Industry