Who doesn’t love the nice, juicy, refreshing taste of a pineapple on a warm summer day? I know I do! While pineapples are available all year round, and their peak growing season is March through July which is right around the corner.

Aside from their irresistible taste, they also possess some great health benefits. Historically pineapple fruit, peel, and juice has been used in folk remedies to remove corns, tumors, and warts. The leaf juice has also been used as a purgative, emmenagogue, and vermifuge. Most notably, however, pineapples have been used to suppress coughs and loosen mucus. The benefits of drinking pineapple juice to help get rid of a cough are similar to that of drinking a glass of orange juice. The reason why pineapple juice is so effective at loosening this mucus is because of the enzyme bromelain. Interestingly, bromelain is actually toxic in high doses. However, consuming it in low doses in pineapple juice is beneficial. You have to be careful though because if you drink the juice from a pineapple that is not ripe yet, you may experience some of the toxic effects associated with bromelain like soreness in and around the mouth.

Pineapples are what are known as herbaceous perennials, meaning that their growth dies down annually but that the roots and underground parts survive all year around. Pineapples are grown by propagating the crown of stiff spikes from one pineapple and planting it. Eventually a new pineapple will grow on top of the stiff stems. Something that is really interesting about pineapples is that they are what is called a “coalesced fruit,” meaning that a pineapple fruit is actually composed of many individual berries joined together. When creating a fruit, a pineapple plant will usually produce about 200 flowers, each of which will develop into an individual berry and these will eventually turn into the pineapple that you know and love.

Unfortunately, the pineapple industry has historically been somewhat problematic. That is, pineapple plantations are exploitative of their workers. I am sure you have walked into your local grocery store produce section and recognized how cheap pineapples are. There are often buy one get one free deals on pineapples. This is because pineapple plantations get away with paying their workers little to no money.

Nearly ¾ of the world’s pineapples come from Costa Rica. In the past 50 years, pineapple production has grown by 400% and has more than doubled in Costa Rica in the last 100 years. You may be wondering why pineapple companies like Dole can afford to sell pineapples for so little money. It is because of the fact that a majority of laborers on Costa Rican pineapple plantations are Nicaraguan migrants workers, many of whom are illegal. Thus, plantations are able to pay these individuals little to no money.

Luckily, there have been many protests in Costa Rica fighting against the pineapple industry and advocating for fair wages for workers. In response to these protests, Costa Rican pineapple growers have decided to Partner with the UNDP. With the help of the UNDP, Costa Rica is partnering with fair production companies in an effort to promote production and trade that is responsible and fair for their workers and the environment. The goal is to protect the staff at these plantations as well as the general public. Costa Rica has advised other companies like Ethiopia, Ghana, the Dominican Republic, and Indonesia to follow Costa Rica’s action model. 

We want a model of pineapple production where workers are treated fairly, women are able to access leadership positions and are paid the same as their male counterparts, and where production does not contaminate water sources nor harm communities – but rather that the benefits of such production can be enjoyed by as many people as possible,” said Kifah Sasa, UNDP’s Environmental Officer.

Hopefully Costa Rica and other high-pineapple-producing countries continue to put social justice issues at the forefront of their business model so that everyone can enjoy a nice, juicy pineapple on a warm summer day without worrying that what they are eating is the product of exploitative labor. 

References

Bartholomew, D. P., & Malézieux, E. (1994). Pineapple. Handbook of environmental physiology of fruit crops, 2, 243-291.

Collins, J. L. (1949). History, taxonomy and culture of the pineapple. Economic Botany, 3(4), 335-359.

Hossain, M. F. (2016). World pineapple production: an overview. African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, 16(4), 11443-11456

Ogawa, E. M., Costa, H. B., Ventura, J. A., Caetano, L. C., Pinto, F. E., Oliveira, B. G., … & Romão, W. (2018). Chemical profile of pineapple cv. Vitória in different maturation stages using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 98(3), 1105-1116.

Reinhardt, D. H. R., Bartholomew, D. P., Souza, F. V. D., Carvalho, A. C. P. P. D., Pádua, T. R. P. D., Junghans, D. T., & Matos, A. P. D. (2018). Advances in pineapple plant propagation. Revista Brasileira de Fruticultura, 40(6).

Sanewski, G. M., Bartholomew, D. P., & Paull, R. E. (Eds.). (2018). The pineapple: botany, production and uses. CABI.