Time to access food in tin, for example (5)
I believe the answer is:
metal
'tin for example' is the definition.
(tin is a kind of metal)
'time to access food' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'to access' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters gain access to the word).
'food' becomes 'meal' (meal is a kind of food).
't' going within 'meal' is 'METAL'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for metal that I've seen before include "barium?" , "Material detectable in the ground" , "Zirconium, for example" , "Copper or silver, say" , "Eg, Iron or gold" .)