The earliest know use of the word perishable was in a 1484 writing by Johannis de Caritate.   

From Latin, perare (to pass away, perish) 

The Greek word for perish, apollum, was used when writing the bible and means 'to be destroyed' or 'to turn to ruin'.    

And refer truck haul perishables from the farms to the various markets where they'll be sold. 

1 hour ago, drpaladin said:

Bananas come to mind as perishable. They seem to turn from yellow to black in no time.

Black bananas make the best banana cakes, however.

30 minutes ago, drpaladin said:

Which I don't eat. I don't like overripe bananas in any form.

They're great for making banana bread.  I guess that's what @raven1 was referring to when he mentioned banana cakes.  

After retiring from Qwest Communications, I started driving long haul semitruck. My first job was with a trucking company that primarily hauled refrigerated or temperature-controlled products. My trailers were filled with frozen waffles, French fries, and McDonald's breakfast items; chilled potatoes for French fries and potato chips; specific temperature photographic film, rubber for tires, cacoa beans (to the Nestle chocolate plant in Burlington, Michigan), Hershey candies (chocolate bars from Hershey, Pennsylvania, Twizzlers from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Reese's from Stuarts Draft, Virginia, all going to the Hershey warehouse in Southern California), fresh fruit (tons of apples to Walmart distribution warehouses); vegetables (Salinas, California, for lettuce and Bakersfield, California, for carrots); various meat products (fresh beef (from Dodge City and Liberal, Kansas), pork (every time I was in Ottumwa, Iowa, there was a pervasive smell of fresh pork chops), and Hebrew National and Nathan's hot dogs (seemingly always having to wait for the rabbi to deem the meat kosher); and fresh flowers and shrubs from the Skagit River flats in Washington state. Beverages included beer (there was the time I had to take the semi tractor into downtown Annapolis, Maryland, and find a parking space big enough to parallel park, so I could get a permit to haul beer in Maryland); Yoo-Hoo chocolate drink from the old plant in Opelousas, Louisiana to a warehouse in Secaucus, New Jersey; and fruit juices (apple, grape, and orange). A semitrailer being a big empty box, there was the load of 4 x 8 sheets of specialty veneer plywood, various dry goods grocery products, and that load of tricalcium phosphate for Kraft American cheese. There were good customers (I always got a chocolate bar when hauling Hershey products) and bad customers (the grocery warehouse in Louisiana that refused delivery at midnight and then complained they had to stay late at noon for my delivery).