Optimizing vehicle routing for perishable food logistics ensuring freshness and efficiency

The delivery of perishable food products poses unique challenges due to the critical need to preserve freshness while optimizing logistics efficiency. Traditional Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) models primarily focus on minimizing distance or cost but often neglect time-sensitive deterioration, which is vital in cold chain logistics. This study develops an advanced Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Route Time Windows (CVRPT) model that integrates a freshness decay function to optimize routing decisions based on minimizing product freshness loss. The model incorporates constraints such as vehicle capacity, route time limits, travel and unloading times, and uses a linearized freshness decay function for tractability. A case study based on a supermarket distribution scenario evaluates two routing objectives: minimizing total distance and minimizing freshness loss. Results demonstrate that the freshness-focused model significantly reduces overall product deterioration. However, this improvement comes with longer travel distances and more complex routing. This trade-off emphasizes the importance of balancing product quality preservation with operational efficiency. The findings offer a practical framework for improving perishable food logistics and lay the groundwork for further research using metaheuristic algorithms for large-scale applications.