Conscious Choice: Dole Organic Bananas
Dole, the world's largest producer of fresh fruits and veggies, has opened its first-ever organic banana farm in La Guajira, Colombia.
The company has sold organic bananas since 2001, but the fruit was sourced from independent organic growers. The 1,000 local Colombian residents who work at the new Dole plant aren't exposed to harmful pesticides, and they breathe cleaner air, too, because the facility doesn't use tractors (bananas are transported from the farm via suspended cables). The plantation also cut its water use by 90 percent with a fruit washer that filters and reuses water, according to Marianne Duong, communications manager for Dole's Fresh Fruit division. In addition, Dole now prints three-digit "farm codes" on the labels of all its organic bananas. Shoppers can go to www.doleorganic.com and type in this code to find out where the bananas were grown-and see photos of the farm and its workers.
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