Another Example of how Corporate Greed Killed American Jobs

This time, it’s Hawaiian Pineapple Production.

And, it’s an old story.

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Del Monte to End Pineapple Production in Hawaii

Last Crop Will Be Harvested in 2008

By John Fischer, About.com Guide

Pineapple Growing in Central Oahu;
Photo by John Fischer

Sugar and Pineapple – those two words used to be synonymous with Hawaii. In a year where Hawaiians of Filipino decent are celebrating their 100th anniversary in the islands, one of the two cash crops which brought them to Hawaii along with immigrants from China and Japan is facing another long-time grower abandoning the islands for cheaper production elsewhere.Where once sugar cane and pineapple fields were strewn across most of the Hawaiian islands, now you’ll find housing developments, resort hotels and condominiums and more often, just barren fields.

Del Monte to Cease Pineapple Production in Hawaii

Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. announced last week that after 90 years in Hawaii, they will plant their last crop of pineapple on Oahu this month and will cease all operations by 2008 when that crop is harvested.Citing the expense of

Fit for Human Consumption, or Rat Poison? High Fructose Corn Syrup Continually Indicted in Obesity Epidemic.

Fit for Human Consumption, or Rat Poison? How many foods use High Fructose Corn Syrup? The answer might surprise you. Or, it may not. Originally uploaded by SouthernBreeze

In the last several years, obesity has become a rampant epidemic in the United States. While there are doubtless many causes, it is my opinion that a wholesale change in our dietary practices – and I specifically do not mean to refer to increased portion sizes, consumption or intake – but rather to an ingredient which has become all too common in commercially prepared food… which, if we were honest with ourselves, is most of what we consume.

For example, the majority of Americans do NOT grow their own vegetables, raise their own groceries (meat, dairy, poultry, eggs, pork, etc.), nor do they eat homegrown, locally grown, or even “freshly prepared” vegetables, even if those vegetables were imported to the United States. Consider even pineapples, for example. Once, the exceeding majority of the world’s supply of pineapples were grown in Hawaii. The highest quality pineapples are sold to Japanese markets, where they pay top price for the highest quality fruit. Not so in the United States, where American customers balk at high prices, even if it’s associated with higher quality.

Historically, Hawaii was the world’s largest pineapple producer and source for pineapples. Relatively recently however, rapacious corporate profit seekers abandoned Hawaii for cheaper production (translate “cheap labor” & “no health & safety regulation”), and there now remain only two fresh pineapple operations remaining in Hawaii: one on Maui, and another on Oahu. And that quandary is an entirely separate, yet related, problematic issue.

However, much of what we eat has been commercially processed in volume. And I mean in HUGE volumes! In America’s factory food processors, a fairly common ingredient is