Since the advent of refrigerated trucks, or "reefers" as the industry calls them, food and transportation have been intricately linked.

Cold trucks cut down dramatically on food waste and provide the backbone for moving perishable food — from tomatoes to tri-tip to tilapia — to stores and consumers. At the same time, refrigerated trucks use a quarter more fuel (usually diesel) than non-refrigerated trucks do, as well as hydrofluorocarbon chemicals for cooling, which are a potent greenhouse gas.

Because of these negative environmental effects, companies that sell and use reefer trucks are beginning to test out ways to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transporting food that needs to be chilled. Some of these innovations are technologies that can be used on lower-emission trucks in general, but some have been created specifically for refrigerated truck belt.