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From 1996 to 2006, total factor productivity in the French food industry declined by 0.4 % per year. Productivity in the “milk”, “beverage”, and “grain” industries remained relatively stable, while significant decreases were observed in the “meat and fish” and “otherfood” industries. These results may be due to the large share of intermediate consumption, the difficulty in raising technological yields, and stricter sanitary and environmental standards. Weaker intermediate-consumption prices offset the loss in productivity, but were also passed on to consumers in the form of lower food prices. The productivity trend in the French food industry was comparable to that observed in the other leading EU15 countries.