By Russ Webster, President, Food Enterprise Solutions

America’s food system is vast, complex, and increasingly global. While public attention often focuses on large brands and multinational processors, the system itself is overwhelmingly operated by small and mid-sized firms.

More than 90 percent of U.S. food manufacturers fall into the small business category. These firms dominate food processing, handling, cold-chain logistics, specialty ingredient production, and regional distribution. They operate closest to risk, – where contamination, safety failures, or supply disruptions are most likely to occur.

Because of the nature of food systems and supply chains, contamination events – biological or chemical – do not remain isolated. They can cascade rapidly into public health emergencies. They disrupt trade, undermine consumer confidence, and generate political pressure domestically and internationally. As the United States relies more heavily on imported foods – now accounting for roughly 17 percent of total consumption, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture – these risks increasingly cross borders.

Small food businesses serve as the first line of detection and response. They are often the earliest to identify contamination, trace supply-chain failures, or adapt operations during crises. During the most recent Covid pandemic, many small processors reconfigured production, shifted distribution channels, and maintained food availability while larger systems struggled to adjust.

The value of small business lies not only in scale alone, but also in adaptability under pressure. From a security standpoint, food system resilience depends less on a handful of large actors and more on a distributed network of capable small firms that can absorb shocks without triggering systemic collapse.

The security implications of food systems extend far beyond U.S. borders. American food safety standards – preventive controls, traceability, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point HACCP-based systems – are deeply embedded in global trade. Small U.S. firms play a central role in operationalizing these standards internationally by working directly with foreign suppliers, providing compliance and auditing services, and integrating safety systems into cross-border supply chains.

This work produces immediate benefits to U.S. consumers as well. Effective food safety systems reduce the likelihood of transnational foodborne illness, minimize border disruptions triggered by safety failures, and reinforce trust in U.S. regulatory leadership, including the frameworks overseen by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In fragile or developing markets, small and medium size enterprise SME-led engagement in food systems also promotes stability. Reliable food access reduces conflict risk, mitigates migration pressures, and strengthens local economies – outcomes directly aligned with U.S. global security interests. In this sense, food safety is not merely a regulatory concern. It is preventive security infrastructure, and small businesses are actors that help make it operational and effective.

American small businesses are not a marginal constituency or a special interest group. In addition to driving innovation, employment, and economic growth, they are a structural component of U.S. security.