Remove food from back of wheel in fine old ship (5)
I believe the answer is:
floss
'remove food' is the definition.
'back of wheel in fine old ship' is the wordplay.
'back of' says to take the final letters.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'fine' becomes 'f' (abbreviation).
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'ship' becomes 'ss'.
The last letter of 'wheel' is 'l'.
'f'+'o'='fo'
'l' put within 'fo' is 'flo'.
'flo'+'ss'='FLOSS'
'from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for floss that I've seen before include "Teeth-cleaning thread" , "Silk" , "Thread used for tooth-cleaning" , "What dentist could recommend" , "The Mill on the - (George Eliot)" .)