Pineapple Is Sweet and Delicious, But Where Does It Come From?

Pineapple's one of the sweetest fruits around. You'd never guess by tasting it what went into producing and harvesting it.

The Guardian describes it as "an industry built on environmental degradation and poverty wages." The story cites tests in England of pineapple from Costa Rica (the world's largest exporter, and supplier of 75 percent of fresh pineapple consumed in the U.S.) showing 94 of samples containing "residues of the fungicide triadimefon, a reproductive toxin and suspected hormone disruptor."

However, as concerned as you might be about the effects of triadimefon on your own health, the risks are even worse for people in Costa Rica. Public water supplies have been contaminated, and as a result, the Guardian continues, villages have to get their drinking water from a tanker—when the tanker comes, though deliveries are often insufficient to meet local needs.

Dole has expressly denied the allegations of harming the environment and treating workers poorly, but workers and the local community continue to complain of contaminated water and poor health as a result, as well as poor working conditions that include inhumanely long shifts and low pay that does not allow people to earn a proper living wage. And it's hardly just Dole that is to blame—Del Monte has also been the target of complaints, along with at least 18 other, if smaller, companies.