These quick facts about the business may be of interest to others:

The food manufacturing industry links farmers and agriculture companies with consumers by processing raw fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, and dairy products into finished goods. These good are sold to the end user by ready for the grocers, restaurants, and other retail and foodservice outlets. Some of the largest food manufacturing companies include Nestle, Tyson Foods and Kraft Foods.

Food manufacturer now must comply with Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010 which is a sweeping law steps up the powers of the Food and Drug Administration. The U.S. Department of Agriculture continues to oversee all production of meat, poultry, and eggs aspects of food manufacturing. In addition, other food safety programs have been adopted as issues of chemical contamination and the growing number of new food-borne pathogens remain a public health concern. For example, by applying science-based controls from raw materials to finished products, a program called Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) focuses on identifying hazards and preventing them from contaminating food. The bottom line is that regulation, food safety and quality issues are becoming more and more prevalent to food manufacturers and processors.

About 1.5 million people are employed in food manufacturing and roughly on-third of these jobs are in animal slaughtering and processing plants. Seafood product preparation and packaging accounts for only 3 percent of all jobs, making it the smallest industry group in the food manufacturing subsector. In the US there are about 30,000 companies that are classified as food manufacturers. Many of these are smaller companies that employ less than 100 people.

Like many industries consolidation and size makes a difference as manufacturers and processors find themselves coping with higher material costs, higher energy and transport costs and a challenging economy. Large brand name manufacturers such as ConAgra Foods, Kellogg Company and H.J.Heinz must also deal with changing trends such as the emergence of private label food manufacturing. Retailers have extended the concept of private label foods to identify a brand with a store, a concept known as the store brand. Store brand foods can be a far more profitable business than selling nationally advertised brands and consumers seem to be adopting store brands as they seek value prices.