food chain

Noun

food chain (plural food chains)

1. The feeding relationships between species in a biotic community.
   • Nanomaterials, substances broken down by technology into molecule-size particles, are starting to enter the food chain through well-known food products and their packaging, but there is little acknowledgment by the companies using them, according to a new report from a nonprofit group that works to...2013 February 6, Stephanie Strom, “Study Looks at Particles Used in Food”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 08 Jun 2019
2. (idiomatic) A hierarchy.
   • With my promotion this month I will continue my steady journey to the top of the food chain.
   • He, too, was a meat puppet. Unable to make any decision without imagined repercussions from above, he chose to make none and instead passed his decision onto the next guy up the food chain.1998, Luke Sullivan, "Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This": A Guide to Creating Great Ads, page 164