History of the Food Industry

History of the Food Industry

Over the last 100 years the food industry has evolved many times over. It began as simple mass production and today it "includes everything from the most basic preparation of foods to canning, freezing, otherwise preserving, and packaging of finished products for distribution throughout the world."(Gale Encyclopedia, 1999) Food processing involves the task of taking a variety of raw products including dairy, meat, fruit or grains and turning them into the consumable products we purchase at the grocery store every day. It is difficult to measure the exact size of the food industry. It is also difficult to narrow it down to one segment such as food processing because there are so many facets to each industry segment. From agriculture to transportation and from manufacturing to retailers, the food industry is without question one of the largest industries in the world. Although the food processing industry has a major impact on the economy, its greatest impact is on our overall health.

There were several major contributors to the evolution of the food industry, including the advancement of transportation. During the food industry's infancy, developing the use of preservatives to increase shelf-life became one of its most important concerns. It took much longer to get products from a processing plant to a retailer in those days, which resulted in a large amount of waste due to spoilage. The development of refrigerated transportation allowed produce and meat to be transported over longer distances without spoiling. Ultimately, the use of refrigerated transportation made it possible for agricultural products to be shipped to local processing plants, providing the ability to connect rural and urban areas. Soon the expansion of roads, railway and even the use of airplanes as cargo transportation propelled the food industry forward. Whether transporting fresh produce or grains from a local framer or cocoa beans from overseas, today the transportation component of the food industry is merely a necessity rather than the revolutionary impact it had in the early days, but it is nevertheless a critical component of the industry.

Technology has also played a key role in the history of the food industry. While the technology used in manufacturing plants of today is advanced and highly technical, with robots and impressive machines, some more simplistic advancement also contributed to where this industry is today. "Other inventions and discoveries were more specific to the processing of food. In the early 1800s Nicolas Appert, a French chef started the process of canning" (Gale Encyclopedia, 1999). Also, in 1861 "the process of pasteurization was an important contribution to reliable food preservation" (Gale Encyclopedia, 1999). Everything from the invention of electricity to the science behind how to use salt as a preservative contributed to the growth of this industry.

Although the food industry has been credited with much positive advancement, it has also been criticized for its shortcomings. Additives and preservatives (mainly salt) used to increase shelf life have contributed to the negative decline in the overall health of our nation. "Too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure, a key cause of cardiovascular disease and heart attacks (Javers, 2007). "Salt is used as a flavor enhancer and preservative in everything from chocolate and skim milk to canned soups" (Javers, 2007). While the number of obese children in our country has reached an all time high, the convenience of processed foods still often wins over healthier food choices. Although diet related health concerns continue to be an issue, the food industry has made some improvements. Under the watchful eye of the Food and Drug Administration, healthier low-fat options have emerged, as well as an increased focus on better nutritional labeling on products.

The snowball effect of all these economic changes and evolutionary advancements has led to the development of a massive industry. As we understand the science and technology needed to advance the food industry, small companies continue to grow into larger conglomerates. Mergers and acquisitions have formed larger and larger companies with seemingly unlimited resources. Looking ahead, it is obvious that the food industry faces many challenges and opportunities. One thing is for certain, there will continue to be many exciting advancements as the industry responds to the ever increasing expectations of today's more educated and demanding consumer.

Regulatory Environment in the Food Industry

The U.S. Government maintains a complex patchwork of food safety bureaucracies that have multiplied over the past century. The activities these bureaucracies undertake can be divided into regulation of plant/factory sanitation, product inspection, restaurant inspection, consumer education, and compliance of disease outbreak statistics. These activities are shared by regulators at the federal, state, and local levels (Yasuda, 2010). In the federal government, fifteen agencies have legal mandates to provide food safety, with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the CDC playing major roles (Walker, 2007). The FDA and the USDA inspect domestic and imported food products as well as food processing plants. The USDA inspects meat, poultry, eggs and the processing plants for these products, and the FDA inspects the rest of foodstuffs and their plants (U.S. General Accounting Office, 1998). Restaurant inspections are generally carried out by local, county, or state health department personnel (Jones, 2004).

In addition to the multiple layers of governmental regulations associated with manufacturing or production of product within the Food Industry, there are also multiple layers of government regulations associated with environmental concerns. In the IBIS World Industry Report 31132, Naren Sivasailam, writes: "The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and state governments enforce environmental issues pertaining to the food industry. Various federal environmental regulations and statutes, such a s the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Pollution Prevention Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, have changed the way processing facilities handle their products and dispose of their waste. The Clean Water Act has rigorous regulations for discharging wastewater and is the primary regulatory driver for the food industry" (Sivasailam, 2010).

Although the Food Industry is heavily regulated by the FDA, USDA, and EPA with respect to manufacturing, production and processing, the FDA has also instituted the Food Ingredient Safety Program that governs and evaluates the food producer's concerns with ingredients, nutritional content