... to think it's immoral to pay 65p for a massive pineapple

[HarlinRay]

I love pineapple and buy two or three a week sometimes when they're cheap. Got a massive one for 65p today (and it's really nice as well, they usually are this time of year) and I started thinking about the actual labour of growing them, harvesting them, trimming them up, shipping them all over the world (this one from Costa Rica)... how can 65p cover that without a lot of suffering involved somewhere near the beginning of the farm-to-table pipeline? No way that a 65p pineapple is being grown and harvested by someone paid a living wage. And of course this applies to other fruits and veg too, even most tinned tomatoes are grown and processed by trafficked people in Italy in slavery conditions.

I became a vegan many years ago for moral reasons and I'm starting to see that I've only scratched the surface of ethical consumption.

Just because supermarkets are selling it at that price doesn't mean a huge amount.

'Loss leaders' are why people think supermarkets are cheap, they are often cheap in key seasonal items, they rely on people not really checking the price of the things they buy in their trollies week in and out.

Milk is a good example, milk is cheap in supermarkets because they barely make a profit on it despite screwing dairy farmers over. Milk from the milkman is seen as expensive in comparison but actually it's just properly priced. The supermarkets can make up their profit on other items, the milkman can't.

But I don’t think fresh pineapples are the kind of things that are loss leaders? Loss leaders are the sort of basic essentials that everyone comes in for. Fresh pineapple is too esoteric to make it worth making it a loss leader.

Then don't buy them.

Supermarkets operating margins are about 3.5%.

If it’s the ones in Sainsbury’s at the moment have you notice they have took the ‘fairtrade’ Label off?... that’s how they are making them cheaper! Very immoral.

@cremuel

But I don’t think fresh pineapples are the kind of things that are loss leaders? Loss leaders are the sort of basic essentials that everyone comes in for. Fresh pineapple is too esoteric to make it worth making it a loss leader.

Oh I know. But supermarkets can afford to run promotions on pineapple so some weeks the OP can get them really cheap. It's not necessarily because they are unethical (although the odds are high), things like bulk buying power etc and perhaps having grade 2 or underripe pineapples etc can all have an impact on keeping costs low.

Then people go into a greengrocers and complain that the grade 1 large ripe pineapples in there are a rip off' in comparison to the supermarket.

OP, buy local and seasonal as much as possible and you won't go far wrong if ethics is your issue. Perhaps consider if being vegan is truly the most sustainable and ethical option?

I get you OP. I worked in a supermarket years ago when carrots were 19p a pound. Even then I thought - how does anyone make a living out of this? It was decades ago but it’s stayed with me. That and being allowed to sell alcohol at 14 by yelling ‘Putting drink through’ and holding up the offending item for all to see

So I googled 'why are pineapples so cheap' and it's as bad as I thought - massive amounts of pesticides and herbicides that destroy the land and local water supply along with horribly mistreated workers kept in line by violent private armies. I won't link to it but there's a guardian article from 2010 that lays it all out pretty clearly. This seems to be pretty specific to Costa Rica, where 75%+ of pineapples are grown. I'll try to look for those grown elsewhere to get my fix, but I won't be buying the ones from CR anymore.

I'm terrified to look in to bananas now...

65p is a joke. I am with you OP.

They were 49p in Tesco last week but I didn't buy one as they have an enzyme in that burns my mouth

Agree and was saying the same thing the other day about bananas - how can say 7 decent bananas be about 10-15p each!
Mind you, I have seen fields of pineapples growing in Costa Rica and they do grow acres and acres of them - sometimes with the del monte canning factory on the same site (suppose those ones were owned by del Monte. Same for fields and fields of banana trees!

I’ve never paid under a pound for a small pineapple. Though I don’t buy pineapples often. Bananas are another story, only fair trade in this house.
I always like to see where my fruit, veg and meat comes from. I’m also conscious as to how far it has travelled.
I worked in a supermarket many years ago as a student and noticed these things more as I always looked at labels and packets. I still do to this day.

That sounds horrendous OP. I feel the same about the price of coconuts, in fact lots of food.

Yes. As a general rule, if you're not paying for it, someone else is.

I will look out for this next time I am in the supermarket. Thanks for the heads up OP. I wonder what a fair price would be.

I live in Florida and every time I bought a pineapple, I couldn’t bear to throw the top away and planted them all. I have 17 that are bearing fruit right now. No chemicals, no weeding, I don’t even fertilize them. I do nothing. Once I pull the fruit, the plant keeps growing and bears again next year. They are so easy to grow it’s ridiculous. The only problem is, every one has another top that I can’t bear to waste, so I keep starting more. My friends are now getting pineapple plants as gifts, lots of them.

That's so cool wish we had the climate for that...
OP there is one answer. ...don't buy exotic imported fruits...ok you might get bored if cooking apples and rhubarb...but there's always Spanish oranges...
The banana trade isn't any better...

MadCattery, wow! Doubt that will work in the UK..

I get you OP. I get most of our fruit and veg from riverford, because their USP is to be as ethical and eco friendly as possible, but I can only afford so much from there. I hate buying stuff from supermarkets but our food bill is already our biggest expense so I just can't afford to get the rest elsewhere. I didnt know tinned tomatos were so bad. So many things you just chuck in your trolly and don't even think about.

I posted about my pineapples so HarlinRay would know that they are very easy to grow in the right climate, so she should not feel guilty paying so little. Someone picks them, puts them in a box and the plant recovers to make more. I am going to try to post a picture of one that is just beginning, very tiny

I only buy them when they are priced at £7.50.

That's brilliant madcat

I am glad you posted this, I had never thought of pineapples in that way before and often buy them.

I found this:
www.bananalink.org.uk/why-pineapples-matter/

& this (quite old article):
www.theguardian.com/business/2010/oct/02/truth-about-pineapple-production

Yes, 65p does seem cheap, I honestly can't remember how much they usually cost.

You can grow pineapple here in a greenhouse.