What historical condition caused the informal system of food integrity reliance on personal relationships to break down?

Increased urbanization and industrialized food processing distancing the consumer from the source

For much of history, food integrity was managed locally, relying on reputation and the consumer's own senses—sight, smell, and taste—to gauge quality, especially when dealing with known butchers or bakers. This informal system proved inadequate and ultimately broke down due to major societal shifts, specifically increased urbanization and the rise of industrialized food processing. These changes effectively distanced the average consumer from knowing the original source of their food, creating an environment where abuses, such as adding chalk to milk or processing diseased meat, could occur unchecked by immediate consumer knowledge, thereby necessitating an external, authoritative monitoring body.