According to recent reports, the average person consumes about four pounds of food per day. This includes a variety of items ranging from fresh fruits and vegetables to prepackaged snacks. On top of that, people generally take in 10 to 15 cups of fluid each day. Those are serious demands when you multiply them by hundreds of millions of people.
Keeping store shelves stocked with enough food and drink to meet the demands of an entire nation isn’t easy. Food and beverage production companies and their logistics teams often struggle to keep up. To make matters even more complicated, delivering food isn’t quite the same as shipping electronics and other non-consumable items. Overcoming all the factors involved in shipping food and beverages isn’t an easy feat.
Factors That Need Consideration When Transporting Food
Safely transporting food is a convoluted matter. Some items, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy foods can go bad very quickly. Others are somewhat perishable, but they don’t necessarily spoil quickly. These might include soft drinks, chips, and snack cakes. Still, those items can certainly be damaged in transit. At the same time, some consumable items need to be kept dry. Those are only a few of the issues a Food Transportation Company might be up against. Because of that, certain key factors need to be kept in mind when shipping foods and drinks.
Time Frame
Time is often of the essence when delivering food. That’s especially the case with meats, produce, and dairy products. For those items, logistics companies need to be able to plan for the shortest and fastest routes with the fewest stops in between destinations. Otherwise, tons of fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs could spoil before they reach store shelves. Meats and dairy products could become riddled with bacteria that would be harmful to consumers. Because of all that, highly perishable items need to get to their destinations as quickly as possible.
Besides the potential for spoilage, companies that transport food need to keep timing in mind for the benefit of everyone involved in the supply chain. Farms and companies that produce food need their products on store shelves so they’ll sell. Stores need to keep their shelves stocked so customers will continue to shop. Consumers need to be able to keep their homes stocked with food and drinks as well.
Refrigeration
Many consumables also need to be kept at specific temperatures. Some need to be refrigerated whereas others should stay frozen. Certain items don’t necessarily need to be kept cold, but they shouldn’t be exposed to extreme temperatures. Not all ships, trains, airplanes, and trucks are equipped to handle the temperature-related needs of all foods. That means logistics companies that handle food must have access to a range of transportation options to meet all their clients’ needs.
Having the Right Tools to Work With
Those are a couple of the most significant factors for companies to consider when transporting food and beverages. It’s also important to have the training necessary to handle various types of consumables. Without proper knowledge of safe handling and shipping requirements, contamination could occur. Additionally, logistics companies need to understand how to package foods to ensure they make it to stores intact. All these factors come together to ensure foods make it safely to their destinations and into consumers’ hands. As such, choosing the right logistics company for food transportation is crucial.
