"chiquita" news and stories

The votes are in -- and Chiquita Banana unveiled the 18 winners in its sticker design contest.

The beloved banana company asked customers to help them redesign the iconic Chiquita banana sticker in a contest in June, Slashfood reported.

Fans submitted more than 100,000 votes for the 50 design finalists and the top 18 will adorn Chiquita bananas in stores across the country.

"I eat bananas every day before I sit down to work at my computer. Basically, bananas plus a graphic design contest equals magic," said Max I., a winner from Chico, Ca., on the Chiquita site. His design, a stylized cat with a star, got more than 3,000 votes.

Sarah told you last week about the nationwide recall of cantaloupe. Now it looks like it's even bigger than first announced.

Both Dole and Chiquita have issued voluntary recalls on some of their cantaloupe as well. Dole's recall involved cantaloupe packed in cardboard containers that say "Dole" and "Product of Honduras." The Chiquita boxes say "Mike's Melons," "Mayan Pride," and "Chiquita."

Of course, I'm not sure if all supermarkets display fruit in their original packaging, so it's probably best to ask the store about the cantaloupes they have for sale.

Not to be confused with art made from ripening bananas, the Miami Herald recently ran an interesting profile on Pat Foster (right), the director of ripening for Chiquita in Port Everglades, Florida. As the shipments of bananas (400 tons a week) come in, Foster decides how the fruit should be ripened using ethylene, a gas that also occurs naturally as fruit ripens. According to the article, Foster has to consider not only the weather and production patterns in the countries where the bananas are grown, but also the buying habits of the customers to whom they're being shipped. Hispanic customers in some areas by fruit more frequently, so it must be closer to ripe. Other customers might only make it to the store once a week, so they want greener bananas. Foster has apparently been working with bananas for 40 years and has trained other ripeners all over the country.

[Photo: Jared Lazarus/Miami Herald]
[Via FreshPlaza]

Strangely enough, I always thought that bananas were the ultimate single-serve food. They're conveniently packaged in their own skin and fit easily in your hand. The waste is minimal, not to mention biodegradable, and the fruit is filling and tasty. Chiquita is rolling out a new line of single-serving bananas for convenience stores, presumably to compete with packaged snack foods. Not only will the bananas be retailing at much higher prices than they do at the grocery store, but they will be packaged. A single serving, packaged banana is a concept that is so unnecessary it is difficult to find words to describe it further. Fortunately, only one word is needed: ridiculous.

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