Long before a contaminated product reaches a consumer, the biological threat that will cause harm has already taken root in soil, water, or a barn. For decades, food safety has operated as a system of aftermath — tracing outbreaks backward to their origins after illness has already spread. A convergence of regulatory reform, market pressure, and maturing technology is now reversing that logic, moving the sentinel line from the processing plant to the field itself, and asking whether the food system can learn to see danger before it moves.