La cadena de frío protege el alimento perecedero.

The cold chain protects perishable food.

Breakdown of La cadena de frío protege el alimento perecedero.

• proteger: to protect
• el alimento: the food
• la cadena de frío: the cold chain
• perecedero: perishable

Questions & Answers about La cadena de frío protege el alimento perecedero.

What does cadena de frío mean literally, and why is it built with de?

Literally, cadena de frío is chain of cold, but in natural English it means the cold chain: the system that keeps perishable products at the correct low temperature during storage and transport.

Spanish often uses noun + de + noun where English uses a compound noun or an adjective. So:

• cadena de frío = cold chain
• botella de agua = water bottle
• mesa de madera = wooden table

Here, de frío tells you what kind of chain it is.

Why is it la cadena but el alimento?

Because nouns in Spanish have grammatical gender:

• cadena is feminine → la cadena
• alimento is masculine → el alimento

There is no special trick in this sentence: you just have to learn the gender of each noun with its article.

Also notice that the adjective must match the noun it describes:

• el alimento perecedero (masculine singular)
• la comida perecedera (feminine singular)

Why is there no article in de frío? Why not de el frío or del frío?