These days we all are able to avail of the vast array of foods from all around the world. There are no longer restrictions of local environmental factors and/or the seasonality of a product: one can get the apple which is grown in the nest of the Himalayas or one can order and receive a food product from another region of the country. All is because of the swift, smooth, and effective functioning of the transportation services of Northern India. Whether you want your favourite pizza to be delivered at any moment of the day or night or are waiting for a package you have ordered, transportation generates a convenient way to get the things you need and it doesn't matter wherever you are.
Food miles: The concept of food miles is the distance food travels before being consumed. The term 'food miles' refers to the total distance that food is traveled from the farm to your plate.
Transportation plays a vital role for the whole world as it completes the supply chain cycle from farm to fork. India is growing aggressively and developing its market with a competitive growth with the developed countries, it is indeed a requirement of the Indian market that the transportation must be of optimum level and smooth functionality of service. As the largest geographical region of India is the Northern region (Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, UT Chandigarh and Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan), it is required to be the best in service at all times without an error of transportation services.
Transportation and supply chain is depending upon each other and It would not be wrong to say that transportation is a part of the supply chain. Sometimes both transportation and logistics are used correspondently but they both are two different functions that complete the supply chain as transportation is the motion or movement of products and logistics is the management of the inbound and outbound transportation of products from the manufacturer to the consumers. The 7 'R' (Right product, Right quantity, Right condition, Right place, Right time, Right customer, Right price’) of logistics, transportation lives up to expectations on all 'R' of the logistics.
As the food and beverage industry is struggling to survive in the market in the current Covid Era, it is required to be their best at all times to serve the consumers with their products by providing the products at the right time at the right price. On the basis of the above importance some importance of the transportation are discussed below:
It is vital to keep food at the required temperature during transportation to avoid the growth of microorganisms that may affect the quality of the food.
1. Controlled temperature coaches or refrigerated vans help in controlling the microbial growth of the microorganisms. It is vital to keep the food at the required temperature during transportation to avoid the growth of microorganisms that may affect the quality of the food as raw and processed food both required different transportation temperatures. From the storage in the warehouses to the consumer's palate the temperature is controlled by the transporter by using refrigeration technology. This keeps the food fresh, preserves food from any spoilage, and keeps food away from getting contaminated which ultimately maintains the food quality as per the standard.
2. Selection of appropriate transportation is must for the food, as the different food needs different transportation services such as dairy products, fruits & vegetables, eggs require a different mode of transportation with some specific needs and the processed products or finished good needs some other specification while transporting from one place to another.
3. Swift and safe delivery is the key to the success of the business either by fulfilling the demand of the raw material or the finished products. Rapid delivery keeps the food safe as all the food products have their own shelf life just for instance raw fruit may deteriorate soon while processed fruit jam can survive even a period of a month or more but both are required to be delivered within their good quality.
4. Keeping the food safety and avoiding breakage of the products such as eggs, or the finished products such as bottled ketchup, syrups, flavoured milk, etc. all are considered to be the 'handle with care products' which need some more careful handling while transporting but the transportation did their work so efficiently so that we all (consumers) can avail the products at it of the best quality.
It is very difficult to transport something from a plain region to the hilly region or vice-versa but the efficient transportation services make it possible that every consumer gets their product at its best quality at all times without compromising the quality. It has opened up innumerable doors of possibilities to the food & beverages industry to keep their business alive in the current cutthroat competition.
(The author is assistant professor, Sunder Deep College of Hotel Management, Ghaziabad, UP)