The food manufacturing industry faces unprecedented pressure to modernize aging infrastructure while maintaining operational continuity, ensuring worker safety, and meeting stringent regulatory requirements. This study investigates critical success factors, barriers, and outcomes of multi-million dollar infrastructure projects in Fortune 500 food manufacturingplants.Througha comprehensive questionnaire survey collecting data from 89 major capital projects (valued $5M-$250M) across 28 Fortune 500 food companies, this research examines project performance across safety, efficiency, and modernization dimensions. Results indicate that 67.4% of projects achieved targeted safety improvements, while only 52.8% met efficiency goals within budget and schedule constraints. "Operational continuity challenges," "regulatory compliance complexity," "legacy system integration," and "workforce adaptation" emerged as the most significant barriers to project success. Statistical analysis reveals strong positive correlations between integrated project management approaches and achievement of safety (r=0.682, p<0.01), efficiency (r=0.594, p<0.01), and modernization objectives (r=0.721, p<0.01). Companies employing comprehensive front-end planning, phased implementation strategies, and crossfunctional governance structures achieved 35- 48% better outcomes than those using traditional approaches. The findings provide evidence-based guidance for food industry executives and project managers undertaking majorin frastructure investments, demonstratingthat systematicprojectmanagementsignificantly improves outcomes despite the unique challenges of operating food manufacturing environments.