Definition of "food chain" [food chain]

• A succession of organisms in an ecological community that constitutes a continuation of food energy from one organism to another as each consumes a lower member and in turn is preyed upon by a higher member. (noun)
• Informal A competitive hierarchy: "was reduced to character roles while struggling to defend his position in the Hollywood food chain” ( Kathryn Shattuck). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Biomagnification of the concentration of such chemicals in the food chain was found to be dangerous to human health."
• "Nonorganic poultry and meats are packed with hormones and antibiotics, not to mention often full of PCBs, mercury, and other chemicals that accumulate up the food chain in the cows, pigs, lambs, and chickens we consume."
• "While a few well-known organochlorine insecticides that are notoriously injurious to animals—DDT, for example—have been banned in the United States, even these persist for decades in the soil in which our fruits and vegetables are grown and in our water, meanwhile accumulating up the food chain which is why traces of DDT can be found in the steaks Becky has yet to cook for dinner."