Paul Thompson is one of the real stars of the food ethics realm. He’s a smart philosopher and well informed about the relevant issues. In the blog entry linked below, he considers the difference between the “food movement” and what he calls simply “food ethics.”

Real change in food systems needs real ethics

…it is not clear to me that the “social movement” framing is the best way to understand food justice…
…“Food ethics” is less sure that we have the answers than the food movement, but it shares many of the same concerns with our existing food system. Food ethics would be the cultivation and dissemination of a more reflective, more open-minded and more compassionate consideration of the way that food is produced, processed, distributed, and consumed at both local and global scales. It sees many of our current problems as a failure to think broadly and deeply enough about food and agriculture. It hopes to mobilize the resources of philosophical ethics—a rich moral vocabulary and a willingness to engage in serious debate—both as social critique but also within the corridors where key decisions about food system policy and practice are currently made….