The research problem presented in the article concerned the diversification of the level and effectiveness of the use of production resources in the food industry in the EU countries. Production resources were determined on the basis of the number of entities and employees in food producing enterprises. The effectiveness of their use was also measured by calculating the productivity indicators. In the article, the partial productivity was calculated on the basis of the value of sold production per one employee and one economic entity. Changes in the production resources of the food industry in the EU countries and the efficiency of their use were determined in 2005, 2010 and 2019. The results of the research indicate that the largest production resources and production volume of the food industry were found in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. In terms of employment, Poland played a significant role. The efficiency of the use of factors of production, measured by productivity indicators, was the highest in Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands. On this basis, it can be concluded that regardless of the adopted measure of productivity, these countries make the best use of their production resources. By far the lowest levels of productivity in the food industry were recorded in Bulgaria and Romania.