This is Bananas!

[sweetgoddess]

I picked up some boxes at the grocery store to pack in and some are Chiquita banana boxes. On the side of the box it says " Thiabendazole and or Imazalil or azoxystroben appled to maintain freshness. "
These are the bananas I have eaten all my life. Who knew! :mad:

Thiabendazole is a systemic benzimidazole fungicide used to control fruit and vegetable diseases such as mold, rot, blight and stain. It is also active against storage diseases and Dutch Elm disease. In livestock, thiabendazole is also applied to treat roundworms.
Thiabendazole is classified as a slightly toxic pesticide and carries the signal word CAUTION on the label. Effects of acute overexposure to the fungicide include dizziness, anorexia, nausea, and vomiting. Other symptoms such as itching, rash, chills, and headache occur less frequently. The symptoms are brief and are related to the dose level
Rats force-fed 200 mg/kg/day or less showed little or no growth effects. At higher levels (400 mg/kg) there was growth suppression. Death occurred in a few days at 1,200 mg/kg and 30% mortality occurred within 30 days at 800 mg/kg. A decrease of active bone marrow at high doses was also noted (3). At doses somewhat below the LD50, mice had liver, spleen, and intestinal effects.
In dogs, high daily doses (200 mg/kg) for two years produced few effects other than occasional attacks of vomiting and persistent anemia. Sheep experience toxic depression and anorexia at very high doses (800-1,000 mg/kg). Studies on cattle, sheep, goats, swine, horses and zoo animals have shown few chronic symptoms at low doses (8).
(whats with all these poor animals! :mad: )

Imazalil is a systemic imidazole fungicide used to control a wide range of fungi on fruit, vegetables and ornamentals, including powdery mildew on cucumber and black spot on roses. Imazalil is also used as a seed dressing and for postharvest treatment of citrus, banana and other fruit to control storage decay.
Imazalil is classified as a moderately toxic compound and carries the signal word WARNING on the label. Test animals have experienced symptoms, including goose flesh (or goose bumps), due to the excitation of hair folicles, muscle incoordination, reduced arterial tension, tremors, and vomiting. Contact dermatitis has been noted in some cases in sensitive individuals.
Under normal storage conditions, oranges dipped in 2,000 mg active ingredient/l and stored have residues (89%) present as the parent compound. Only a small amount of imazalil was present in the pulp and part of this may have resulted from handling during peeling (4). The half-life was 12 to 20 weeks. Studies with apples gave similar results.
One week after treated barley seed was sown in soil, about 76% of the imazalil was in the adjacent soil and about 29% was in the seedcoat. After three weeks only 6% was in the green plant parts.

Azoxystrobin is an experimental compound. The data package has been submitted to register the active ingredient with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Outside the U.S., the active ingredient is used on cereals, cucurbits, vegetables, fruit crops, peanuts, turf, ornamentals, stone fruit, bananas, rice, apples, grapes, potatoes and other crops (4, 5).
The active ingredient was found to be a slight irritant in rabbits for both eyes and skin. There were no corneal effects. Based on these results, azoxystrobin was classified as Toxicity Category IV for acute oral toxicity and skin irritation, and Category III for acute dermal, inhalation and eye irritation (4).

[Cinnamon]

These are also the bananas I've eaten all my life?! I'll tell ya, even though it is hard to afford all organic all the time and I have to shop the "regular" produce section also, I think I'd rather eat less than subject myself to chemicals and such like this.

Thank you so much for sharing this information, it sure has made me re-think how to spend my grocery money!

[Pink_Berry]

this is why my parents have been buying organic bananas for as long as i can remember! ever since they hit the market... we have only ever had organic bananas in the house!
we eat alot more organic fresh foods NOW... but for years and years and years... organic bananas have always been in my house!

i can now taste the difference from conventionally grown bananas.. BLEH!!! i dunno how anyone can even eat them.. they taste like chemicals! now i know why!

[angelandarose]

Does anyone know any online source for ordering Organic produce?

[Ginger]

I heard tht my beloved young coconuts are dipped in formaldehide to keep them "fresh" on the journey here... :mad:

[RawTruth]

i can now taste the difference from conventionally grown bananas.. BLEH!!!

Yeah, me too. It's like the difference between green bananas and ripe bananas.


i dunno how anyone can even eat them.. they taste like chemicals!

Prolly because they've never tasted anything other than those. I don't know if the way the skins are treated actually affect the taste. I think it may be that, because they're treated with the chemicals to make them last longer, they're picked earlier and so the natural sugars aren't allowed to develop since they don't really "ripen" -- but, not to open a Pandora's box of discussion -- the organics also hit the stores while they're green. What do you think the difference is?

??

[sweetgoddess]

Good question Diana. I often wonder that myself.

For example--the organic bananas at the store are ALSO chaquita bananas.
???

[RawTruth]

Yeah -- I have a hard time trusting the growers, stores, and food "manufacturers" -- that's why I prefer farmers' markets where I can actually talk to them -- or growing the stuff myself. Hmmm ... think I'd have success with a banana tree here?

;)

[simple berry]

Thanks for sharing that info, sweetgoddess. Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and Preservatives are so NOT living foods.

Sadly, Chiquita is bad news! Organic bananas are better than conventional bananas for sure -- but chiquita is owned by a VERY mean company that likes to wreak havoc in Latin American politics, and treats its employees badly.

angelandrose, there's diamondorganics.com, which is Expensive. A better option, unless you live in the Southeast, is to start (or Find) a buyer's co-op. www.unitedbuyingclubs.com

[VeganVixen]

great to know berry ! maybe we can start some change....

[Sharon in Colorado]

-- but, not to open a Pandora's box of discussion -- the organics also hit the stores while they're green. What do you think the difference is???

Diana - a produce manager once told me that the organic bananas aren't gassed, which is what promotes ripening in conventional bananas.

Also, I read that we should always wash our bananas (conventional & organic) as they are often covered with rats, spiders, etc. carrying diseases as they are imported. And some of the laborers harvesting bananas carry diseases themselves.

[sweetgoddess]

ACK. UGH. Sharon.

I am in mourning for my bananas. :cool:

[Glow]

I bought 2 kinds of bananas recently:

1 walmart

2 and organic/ health store ones.


the walmart ones ripened nicely.


the organic ones did NOT ripen, and had to be thrown away. :confused:

[ren]

Although organic costs more, I find I eat less when I eat organic fruits and vegetables.

[ren]

[QUOTE=Cinnamon]These are also the bananas I've eaten all my life?! I'll tell ya, even though it is hard to afford all organic all the time and I have to shop the "regular" produce section also, I think I'd rather eat less than subject myself to chemicals and such like this.

I try to buy as organic vegetables as possible. When I can't get organic, I use a vegetable wash.

[VeganVixen]

I find I eat less when I eat organic


me too ,VERY interesting......I wonder if there is a conspiracy in that?

[sachis2112]

LOL! I don't think conspiracy is the answer. I think that it just goes to show how wise our bodies can be when we listen.

[VeganVixen]

hee ,I am a conspiracy-person ,it makes EVERYTHING so much more interesting ;)

I think it is just the fact that it is more natural makes it more "usable" for the body

but I was thinking maybe there is a chemical or something that provokes hunger for profit ?

[sachis2112]

Kind of like Coke in Cocacola? Hmmm...??? LOL

[Wendy]

My organic bananas did not really ripen. But today at People's Co-op in Ann Arbor (which our Tennesee member suggested here) and they had Dole Organic Bananas that were yellowing. I didn't buy any, but I might next time.

[sjpersonal]

Thanks so much for the info. I have always loved bananas, but this is a little scarey. So out go the bananas that I just purchased and I will have to go to our Farmer's market off of Vine on Sundays. Once I become more familiar with Raw Foods, I will more than likely start buying all of my produce there.

Thanks again

[RawTruth]

Okay, Sharon touched on this just a bit, but I'm going to get graphic:

You know how sometimes the bananas have some black stuff on the skins -- as you look through the bunches, some have more than others. Well -- guess what? It's rat excrement. You see, dear readers, the bunches of bananas are sitting in a ship's hold as they travel here, and rats roam unfettered in there.

Several years ago, Ann Landers (or Dear Abby -- whatever) had several days worth of columns about this. She checked with all the authorities and found that this was true. Her experts advised soaking the whole bananas in a water/bleach solution in the sink for a few minutes and then using a scrub brush which is reserved only for that purpose. Before doing that, you should use plastic gloves when handling them.

This, of course, doesn't affect the banana inside the contaminated skin, but our hands do touch the skins as we handle the bananas. Then, the bacteria and whatever else can be transferred to whatever our hands touch after that (like the moist flesh of the banana).

Is that crazy or what? This is not to stop anyone from eating bananas -- just a caution on how to handle them.

I believe this is why some markets have recently begun selling their (organic) bananas already tied up in plastic. But ... I haven't talked to anyone to find out when those plastic bags are put on. Or if that's why they're in there.

<ducking quickly out of the way of the firestorm that's sure to ensue from this revelation!>

p.s. sjpersonal -- does that farmers market have bananas? The ones in Long Beach don't!

[Ginger]

So if I don't wear gloves then i'm getting rat b-12?! :D

[sweetgoddess]

why are my bananas on a ship to begin with...dont they grow in the states?! :confused: I feel so duped.

and actually my BOXES! ack! the banana boxes had rats on them then???? Inside there were empty plastic bags that had a little black tarry gooey stuff inside the plastic....you're not telling me..........please no....

[VeganVixen]

yyyyyuuuuuuucckkkkkkyyyyyy !

[RawTruth]

You're cute, SweetGoddess. Here, this might help:

1. Bananas are a tropical fruit.
2. The vast majority of them are grown in tropical climates.
3. The continental U.S. is not tropical.
:p
This link (below) will tell you all about where our nanners come from, which is basically that North American banana imports come mainly from Central and South America (direct quote).

(http://r0.unctad.org/infocomm/anglais/banana/market.htm).

And, for those of us who buy conventionally-grown bananas because of the cost, well ... this is more that we may not want to know -- this article is about pesticides. It's a really really long article, so ... get ready.


Chiquita SECRETS Revealed
By Mike Gallagher & Cameron McWhirter
Cincinnati Enquirer - May 3, 1998


Life on a banana plantation; Growing Chiquita bananas: pesticides and hard work

On farms from Mexico to Ecuador, Chiquita and its affiliates grow millions of bananas every year for consumers in North America and Europe. The fruit is grown and harvested in a labor-intensive process that involves an army of workers, lots of equipment, crop-dusting airplanes, foam cushions, string, bags, special cartons, refrigerated trucks and trains, and tons of pesticides.

While production methods vary slightly from plantation to plantation, the basic operations illustrated below remain the same. This illustration is a composite plantation, drawn from Enquirer reporters' visits to Chiquita subsidiary plantations and Chiquita-affiliated farms in Honduras and Costa Rica, as well as interviews with plantation workers and environmental scientists.

1. Commercial banana plants grow from 15 to 30 feet in height and are grown in long rows on large irrigated plantations. Most bananas consumed in the United States are grown in the lowlands of Central and South America. The average banana plant produces fruit about every nine months. The stem usually grows to contain about 150 bananas. When the manager decides, the fruit is cut green from the plant and dropped carefully on the back of a worker carrying a cushion to stop any bruising of the fruit.

2. Herbicides: To kill off other plants growing around the bananas, workers apply herbicides. The chemicals are toxic and wash into the ground and ground water during rains.

3. Nematicides: To kill off nematodes, small worms that attack banana plants from the roots, workers cover the ground around the plants with nematicides. These chemicals are highly toxic and make an area extremely dangerous for 24 to 48 hours after application.

4. Banana plants do not have strong trunks, they can easily be knocked over in a tropical windstorm. To prevent 'blowdowns,' workers tie the plants down with string.

5. Aerial spraying is an integral part of pesticide application in commercial banana farming. The main purpose is to combat Black Sigatoka, an airborne fungus that can destroy a plantation's crop. In areas that are infected with the fungus, including much of Central America, airplanes may spray fields more than 40 times a year.

The spray lands on the plants' upper leaves, the ground, irrigation canals, streams and rivers and nearby homes, workers and residents, scientists told the Enquirer.

Workers on Chiquita subsidiary plantations and other farms producing Chiquita bananas told the Enquirer that they receive no warning when the planes come over and they often hide under banana leaves to escape the pesticide dust. Nearby villagers complain the aerial spraying often drifts into their yards, sending children running into the houses to escape rashes. Many worker villages are located close to banana plantations.

6. The water used in the in the packing plants to wash pesticides off the bananas comes from the irrigation canals and then is routed back out into the water supply. Chiquita has built berms in recent years on some plantations to limit pesticides from flowing directly into rivers. But many irrigation canals, laced throughout every plantation, remain directly exposed to pesticides.

7. Plastic bags imbedded with the powerful chemical chlorpyrifos protect the the growing fruit from insects throughout its entire gestation. In previous years,the bags were simply discarded after use, though the major banana companies have now started recycling programs.

8. At harvesting, the stem is placed on a large overhead cable system that runs throughout the plantation. Workers place foam cushions among the fruit to stop bruising. The fruit is then pushed along the cable toward the "Empacadora," the packing plant.

9. In the packing plant, workers remove the cushions. Other workers then cut the stems into smaller bunches.

10. The bunchesare then put in a "pila de seleccion," a selecting trough, where selectoras, usually women, choose the bananas and cut them further down to shipping size with small hooked knives.

11. Larger troughs called 'pilas des leches," milk troughs, wash off the pesticides applied in the fields as well as natural fluids from the banana plant.

12. New pesticides are applied to the bunches after they are placed on a conveyer belt. The new pesticides, either thiabendazole or imazalil, are applied to prevent "crown rot," a fungus that attacks the extremities of the banana bunch. On some plantations, Chiquita has installed small plastic containment systems that save money on pesticide costs and reduce worker exposure to the pesticides. But most plantations do not have this system, according to Chiquita statements issued through its attorneys to the Enquirer.

13. Boxes of banana bunches, freshly applied with pesticides, are put on large skids for shipment. On all the plantations visited by the Enquirer, most workers viewed by reporters did not wear gloves when handling the pesticide-covered bananas.

14. Trucks or trains are brought to the plant and loaded with the skids. The bananas are taken to port, where the large refrigerated containers are lifted onto ships. The ships then sail to various destinations, usually in North America or Europe. About ten days to two weeks after being harvested, the bananas are on display and for sale at local groceries.

Pesticides in the banana ecosystem

The ecosytem of a banana plantation is extremely wet and hot. The soil is very loose, helping the banana plants grow but also making it easy for pesticides to spread throughout the system.

It often rains in these areas, flushing pesticides into the ground and water table. The banana industry's answer to this dissipation has been to apply pesticides frequently.

Ways pesticides get into the environment:

Air: Airplanes drop toxic chemicals regularly from the air. Pesticides fall on the plants, but also on workers, the ground and irrigation canals and streams.

Ground: Workers apply pesticides to the ground around the plants. These chemicals seep into the ground with every rainfall.

Water: Pesticides also get into water that is used to wash bananas in the packing plants. That water then flows back into the irrigation canals.

Bags: Plastic bags with the insecicide chlorpyrifos cover all the banana bunches from their inception. The chemical leaks off the bags in rain storms and flows into the ground and water.

Black Sigatoka is a banana plant disease that plagues most areas where Chiquita bananas are produced. The airborne fungus eats away at the plant leaves, turning them black. The disease shrinks the size of the frui and makes it ripen too quickly to be shipped to market. Eventually, the disease kills the plant. Some researchers are now trying to find a Sigatoka resistant banana that will still appeal to consumers, but nothing has been discovered thus far. To date, the industry's reaction to the problem has been to increase aerial spraying of powerful pesticides.

The roots of the banana

Humans have been cultivating bananas since almost the beginning of civilization. Varieties of the plant are referred to in ancient Chinese and Arabic manuscripts.

Believed by scientists to have developed in southeast Asia more than 4,000 years ago, the plant eventually spread to other parts of Asia and into Africa. The species' scientific classification, Musaceae, comes from the Arabic word for the fruit, mu'uz. Spanish and Portuguese explorers are believed to have come into contact with the plant in their travels to West Africa, where they adopted a variation of a local term, banana. Spanish explorers brought bananas to the Americas in the 1500s.

Today hundreds of banana varieties thrive in almost every tropical region of the world. But more than 90 percent of the bananas found at grocery stores in the United States and Europe are one variety, the yellow Gran Cavendish. The banana is one of the most productive plants in the world. In the right climate and weather it produces year round, and for decades at a time.

The plant itself is actually an herb. What looks like a trunk of a banana "tree" is in fact densely packed leaves growing up from a base clump of roots. The plants that produce commercial Gran Cavendish bananas do not produce seeds for reproduction, and are 'sexless' perennials. Planted in rows on giant farms, they regenerate after each harvest. The plant grows a stalk, called in Latin America "la Madre" or the mother, which produces a purple stem with white flowers from its center. The stem transforms into a large 'hand' of as many as 150 bananas each. The "hand," which eventually bends over from the weight of the fruit, can weigh up to 140 pounds.

The fruit is harvested before it is ripe, and cut into the bunches that are transported to grocery stands. Once the fruit is harvested, the stalk is cut and a little stalk , called "el hijo" or "offspring" in Spanish, sprouts from the same root to begin the process again. Bananas are comprised mostly of sugary carbohydrates, but it is also a source of vitamins A and C as well as potassium.

(Copyright 1998)

[Ginger]

That's some scary info there... I couldn't believe this part:

Workers on Chiquita subsidiary plantations and other farms producing Chiquita bananas told the Enquirer that they receive no warning when the planes come over and they often hide under banana leaves to escape the pesticide dust. Nearby villagers complain the aerial spraying often drifts into their yards, sending children running into the houses to escape rashes. Many worker villages are located close to banana plantations.
:eek: :eek: :eek:

[RawTruth]

Yes, it IS scary -- but, hey, we Americans want cheap produce no matter the (human) cost, right? Oh, yeah, also cheap clothes and other goods (ref: WalMart).

[VeganVixen]

Yes, it IS scary -- but, hey, we Americans want cheap produce no matter the (human) cost, right? Oh, yeah, also cheap clothes and other goods (ref: WalMart).


yep ,I cant STAND walmart !!!! but then again I can afford better (for now) and couldnt imagine being in a walmart-only situation, so as much as I HATE walmart, I know there are plenty who rely on it. I must say that target feels a LOT better than walmart..........

[RawTruth]

as much as I HATE walmart, I know there are plenty who rely on it. I'd much rather shop at second hand stores (and have) if funds are limited.

[Doe]

Sweetgodess, organic banannas do grow in Florida. They are actually a very tall herb, not truly a tree. If you want some organic bananas grown here contact Robret at www.robertishere.com (http://www.robertishere.com/) He is in Redlands, west of Miami. It may cost quite a bit to get them to you but no rats will have been crawling on them.

[RawTruth]

How lucky you are, Doe, to have this tropical fruit available near you!! His website is great - made my mouth water.

[VeganVixen]

I'd much rather shop at second hand stores (and have) if funds are limited.


I love doig this too, especially if it's cute vintage apparel ;) , Im always so suprised at the low prices!