Thanks - I wrote a book called Molecules, Microbes and Meals specifically to try and present a balanced view on these meanings. In terms of who benefits, consumers should surely in terms of access to safe convenient affordable food once?

I do not believe that consumers are the main beneficiaries of recent trends in the centralisation and industrialisation of food production. Convenient, perhaps, but safe and affordable? At what price?

There are for sure a lot of complex issues involved here, but the primary function of processing, whether by SMEs or large companies, is to make food safe, and extending shelf-life gives consumers choice and stability of supply.