Is food a product?

Food refers to all kinds of finished products and raw materials for human consumption or drinking, as well as articles that are traditionally both food and medicine, but do not include articles for therapeutic purposes. Fundamental terms of food industry defines food as substances that can be eaten or drunk by human beings, including processed foods, semi-finished products and unprocessed foods, excluding tobacco or substances that are only used as medicines. From the perspective of food hygiene legislation and management, the broad concept of food also involves: raw materials for food production, materials and environment in the process of food raw material cultivation, food additives, all packaging materials and facilities that directly or indirectly contact food, and environment that affects the original quality of food.

Product refers to anything that can be provided to the market, used and consumed by people, and can meet people's needs, including tangible goods, intangible services, organizations, ideas or their combinations. Generally speaking, products can be divided into three levels, namely, core products, formal products and extended products. Core products refer to the direct benefits and utility provided by the whole product to buyers; Regular products refer to the physical appearance of products in the market, including product quality, characteristics, modeling, trademarks, packaging, etc. Extended products refer to a series of additional benefits provided by the whole product to customers, including the benefits given to consumers in the fields of transportation, installation, maintenance and security. So food can be a product, but the product is not necessarily a food.