Reefer Madness: Refrigerated Shipping Containers

99percentinvisible.org

26 points·aturek··5 comments

Kind of interesting premise but the article doesn't really take it anywhere.

"Food used to spoil in refrigerated containers but now it doesn't because of science." OK, but there's almost no elaboration about what was changed. "They pack things differently and cool from below" seems a somewhat inadequate payoff.

It’s a podcast. Listen to it. (I agree the payoff isn’t the best in this case, but you are missing at least 99% of its quality by just reading it. You gotta listen. Being well produced is what these podcasts are all about. Also, most of the time the payoff is actually better or the stories are structured in a way that payoff is not necessary. I still think this is excellent for providing context and mood. And: Labs in containers are cool.)

> It's a podcast

Could've fooled me. Completely obscure to a first-time visitor to the site.

The Vestey Brothers were pioneers of refrigerated meat transport.

They also invented Transfer Pricing, Shell Companies and Non-domicile status. They fought the UK tax office for over 100 years to keep profits made on foreign soil, legislation was introduced to try and tax them but loopholes and vagueness about language thwarted the authorities.

They were Britain's richest family for most of that time and still enjoy royal patronage.

http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/aug/11/features1...

"refers" got their start in chicago, when george h. hammond patented a refrigerated rail car design in 1868 [0].

although the technology was initially used to transport meat via rails, hammond's company (and the rest of the meat trust) quickly adapted the technology for transatlantic shipping (circa 1875) [1].

[0] http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/series/chicago-innovat...

[1] http://library.buffalo.edu/pan-am/exposition/food/health/mea...

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