Food Transport

Modern food transport guarantees the multitude we have in our supermarkets today. Huge refridgerated ships bring perishable fruits from tropical countries all over the world. I remember how I was baffled when I saw Swedish pork for sale in a supermarket in Seoul, I wondered: "Dont they have pigs in South Korea?"

A Brief History
The earliest method to transport food was of course on foot, a method that is very limited. I big step forward was when pack animals, boats and barges started to come in use, it increased the capacity substansially. The invention of the wheel gave us carts, roads where built to make it faster and better for them. These better transport methods made trade between people grow, pretty soon food and wares was shipped long distances. Better roads, bigger and better ships and improved preservation methods was fueled by the mechanisms of economy. This development has continued until today. Some important inventions: The wheel, the steam engine, the combustion engine, railroads and freezing technology.

Modern Food Transport
Today there are almost no limits for what we can transport and how far. Food is preserved and packed in efficient ways, minimizing and simplifying transport. Frozen cargo can be transported by sea, land or air. Our modern society is depending on huge quantities of food stuffs to be transported. There are some not so positive side effect of this.

Environmental Issues
All this transporting of wares takes its toll, pollution and general energy consumtion are the main problems. Imagine how much fuel is used just to transport the food you have bought during your lifetime, and that is just you! It is argued that locally produced products is the way forward, minimizing energy consumtion. If you went all the way it would mean that the we would have a lot less alternatives, if you live in a country like Sweden it is not easy to grow bananas... And we also had to go back to farming again. But at least replacing imported food with locally produced when possible would be a huge step in the right direction. Another solution would of course be a clean energy alternative.

The Free Market
These methods has opened up many new alternatives for the food industry. Fish can be shipped from Norway to China to get packed, only to be shipped back to be sold in Norway! Where there is cheap labour is where it is produced or processed. Bad conditions for workers in poorer countries is also a big issue: Low salaries, no rights and dangerous working environments is what grants us cheap food in the supermarkets today. Taxation on imported food would be a possible solution, factors like environmental impact could then be taken into account.


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