Importing Food
A great deal of the food that we eat everyday and take for granted has to travel long distances before it reaches our kitchens. A large number of the goods that we see in the supermarket have been imported from other countries many thousands of miles away. The logistics of importing food are quite mind boggling and a huge amount of time, money and effort is invested into ensuring that the food stays fresh from when it is harvested, or caught to when it arrives on supermarket selves.
Some foods, such as fish, must be transported very quickly and kept on ice as it can spoil very quickly, especially if it isn't kept at a low enough temperature. Because of this no time is wasted from when the fish is caught, as the freshness will degrade fairly rapidly even when the appropriate preventative measures are undertaken.
Other foods are not quite as much hassle to import from other countries, but there are plenty of measures and protocol that is put in place to ensure the food keeps fresh for when it reaches our kitchens. Fruit such as oranges for example will not have to be transported from suppliers to shops with the same urgency that fish or meat, but there are still many regulations in place to ensure a high standard of hygiene is maintained when transporting the goods, as well as measures to make sure there is as little wastage as possible.