farm to fork

adj.

Relating to the human food chain, from its production to its consumption. Also: farm-to-fork, from the farm to the fork.

— n.

Example Citations:

Answering US complaints, the European Parliament Wednesday moved to end a five-year moratorium on the use of genetically modified organisms in food, but imposed strict labeling rules that are sure to anger American farmers.

Under the new law, all food products sold in the European Union made from GMOs must be clearly marked as such. That will demand "farm to fork" traceability that US officials say will cost exporters too much to implement.

— Peter Ford, "Europe to allow GM foods, with 'farm-to-fork' labels," Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA), July 3, 2003

There is no doubt that mad cow disease, with all its uncertainties, demands the vigilant actions that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has delivered in the past seven weeks.

But as demonstrated at the barbecue for my kids, and in countless other day-to-day interactions with food, and food preparation — we all need to eat — there is a tendency to focus on the exotic and forget the basics; the basics which could have a significant impact on overall public health. And this is not all about consumers.

Everyone in the farm-to-fork food safety system has a responsibility to reduce risk.

— Doug Powell, "Safe handling of food is ignored," The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario), July 16, 2003

Earliest Citation:

Consumer confidence in the food industry is at an all time low. That much our research on page 24 makes plain. Not only that, but consumer confidence in the Government to regulate the food industry effectively has also collapsed.

So what is the Government doing about it? It is introducing a Food Bill with new guidelines on food safety, and it is setting up a Food Safety Directorate within the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. So far, so good. But no-one is really claiming that is enough. Unless far-reaching measures are taken to address consumer concerns 'from farm to fork', the crisis will only deepen.

— Andrew Davidson, "Public will bite the hand that feeds," Marketing, October 26, 1989

Notes:

A similar adjectival phrase is the rhyming gate to plate (1989), where "gate" refers to the gate of a farm (a variation is farm gate to plate). Thanks to subscriber Robin Gleaves for passing along this one.

Related Words:

100-foot diet

cookprint

cradle-to-cradle

cradle-to-gate

cutensil

farmageddon

farmscraper

food miles

foodshed

Frankenfood

garden-to-fork

locapour

locavore

pharmer

SPIN

window farm

Category:

Food and Drink