How many bananas do Americans consume each year?
Banana production in the United States
Commercial banana production in the United States is relatively limited in scale and economic impact. While Americans eat of bananas per person per year, the vast majority of the fruit is imported from other countries, chiefly Central and South America, where the US has previously occupied areas containing banana plantations, and controlled the importation of bananas via various fruit companies, such as Dole and Chiquita.
Banana production in the United States
Bananas are also grown commercially in Puerto Rico, Guam, and American Samoa.
Raspberry leaf spot
Raspberry is the third most popular berry in the United States. In the US, per capita consumption of fresh raspberries was 0.27 pounds in 2008 with frozen raspberry consumption adding 0.36 pounds. Not only are raspberries consumed as a snack, but they have historically also been used for much more. Parts of the raspberry plant used to be used to treat several ailments, including as a relief for painful menstrual cramps, an aid in childbirth, a cure for diarrhea, a remedy for heart disease, and even as a preventative measure for vomiting.
Morning banana diet
Possible problems with the diet include the misuse of the unregulated lunch and dinner. A spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association told the "Daily News": "There's nothing magical about a banana...It's not well-defined or scientifically based. Whenever you have a diet that says eat all you want, there's the possibility that people who are prone to overeating will have problems".
Chestnut
Today, the nut's demand outstrips supply. The United States imported 4,056 metric tons of European in-shell chestnuts worth $10 million in 2007. The U.S. chestnut industry is in its infancy, producing less than 1% of total world production. Since the mid-20th century, most of the US imports are from Southern Italy, with the large, meaty, and richly flavored Sicilian chestnuts being considered among the best quality for bulk sale and supermarket retail. Some imports come from Portugal and France. The next two largest sources of imports are China and South Korea. The French varieties of marrons are highly favored and sold at high prices in gourmet shops.
Blueberry
Resulting from cultivation of both lowbush (wild) and highbush blueberries, Maine accounts for 10% of all blueberries grown in North America with farmed, but only half of this acreage is harvested each year due to variations in pruning practices. The wild blueberry is the official fruit of Maine.
List of unusual units of measurement
Bananas, like most organic material, naturally contain a certain amount of radioactive isotopes—even in the absence of any artificial pollution or contamination. The banana equivalent dose, defined as the additional dose a person will absorb from eating one banana, expresses the severity of exposure to radiation, such as resulting from nuclear weapons or medical procedures, in terms that would make sense to most people. This is approximately 78 nanosieverts - in informal publications one often sees this estimate rounded up to 0.1 μSv.
Banana
There is a long racist history of describing people of African descent as being more like monkeys than humans, and due to the assumption in popular culture that monkeys like bananas, bananas have been used in symbolic acts of hate speech. In April 2014, during a match at Villarreal's stadium, El Madrigal, Dani Alves was targeted by Villareal supporter David Campaya Lleo, who threw a banana at him. Alves picked up the banana, peeled it and took a bite, and the meme went viral on social media in support of him. Racist taunts are an ongoing problem in football. Bananas were hung from nooses around the campus of American University in May 2017 after the student body elected its first black woman student government president.
Banana
As reported for 2013, total world exports were 20 million tonnes of bananas and 859,000 tonnes of plantains. Ecuador and the Philippines were the leading exporters with 5.4 and 3.3 million tonnes, respectively, and the Dominican Republic was the leading exporter of plantains with 210,350 tonnes.
List of banana dishes
This is a list of banana dishes and foods in which banana or plantain is used as a primary ingredient. Foods prepared with banana or plantain as a primary ingredient are also included in this list. A banana is an edible fruit produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus "Musa". (In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called plantains.) The fruit is variable in size, color and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind which may be green, yellow, red, purple, or brown when ripe. The fruits grow in clusters hanging from the top of the plant.
Agriculture in Haiti
Haitians also cultivated dozens of other food crops. Red, black, and other kinds of beans were very popular; they provided the main source of protein in the diet of millions. As many as 129,000 hectares provided 67,000 tons of beans in 1987. Banana and plantain trees were also common and provided as much as 500,000 tons of produce, almost entirely for domestic consumption. Although the flimsy trees were vulnerable to hurricanes and to droughts, rapid replanting helped sustain the crop. Mangoes, another tree crop, were a daily source of food, and they provided some exports. Other food crops included citrus fruit, avocados, pineapples, watermelons, almonds, coconut, okra, peanuts, tomatoes, breadfruit, and mamey (tropical apricot). In addition, Haitians grew a wide variety of spices for food, medicine, and other purposes, including thyme, anise, marjoram, absinthe, oregano, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, garlic, and horseradish.
Baby carrot
"Baby-cuts" are part of a sharp upsurge in the carrot's popularity in the United States. Between 1970 and 1986, Americans ate 6 pounds of carrots per person per year. However, American consumption of carrots began to soar in 1987, and by 2002 it had reached 11 pounds per person.
Columbian exchange
Bananas were introduced to the Americas by Portuguese sailors who brought the fruits from West Africa during their enslavement of Africans in the 16th century. Bananas were still only consumed in minimal amounts around the 1880's. The U.S. didn't see major rises in banana consumption until banana plantations in the Caribbean grew. The History of modern banana plantations in the Americas details the spread of this crop within the Americas.
Sunkist Growers, Incorporated
By 1914, Americans were consuming about forty oranges per person every year, up 80% from 1885.
Banana
Peasant sector banana growers produce for the world market in the Caribbean, however. The Windward Islands are notable for the growing, largely of Cavendish bananas, for an international market, generally in Europe but also in North America. In the Caribbean, and especially in Dominica where this sort of cultivation is widespread, holdings are in the 1–2 acre range. In many cases the farmer earns additional money from other crops, from engaging in labor outside the farm, and from a share of the earnings of relatives living overseas.
Spinach in the United States
Driven by fresh-market use, the consumption of spinach ("Spinacia oleracea") has been on the rise in the United States. Per capita use of fresh-market spinach averaged during 2004–06, the highest since the mid-1940s. The fresh market now accounts for about three-fourths of all US spinach consumed. Much of the growth over the past decade has been due to sales of triple-washed, cello-packed spinach and, more recently, baby spinach. These packaged products have been one of the fastest-growing segments of the packaged salad industry.
Agriculture in Brazil
Brazil is the world's third largest fruit producer, behind China (157 million tons) and India (with 54 million). Oranges and bananas account for 60% of Brazilian output.
Cranberry
By 1900, were under cultivation in the New England region. In 2014, the total area of cranberries harvested in the United States was , with Massachusetts as the second largest producer after Wisconsin.
Banana (slur)
Banana is a term for an Asian person living in a Western country (e.g., an Asian American) who has lost touch with the cultural identity of his or her parents. The term is derived from the fruit banana, which is "yellow on the outside, white on the inside". It may be used as a pejorative term or as a non-pejorative term.
Formosa Province
The production of bananas, mainly for domestic consumption, has a steady annual growing of 70,000 tons average. Citrus and juice production for exportation, specially grapefruit, is growing rapidly, with 1,200 planted hectares and an annual production of around 15,000 tons.
Black sigatoka
Bananas are a principal crop for people with limited access to other resources, and the decrease in production of the fruit can encroach on their current diet, being that bananas are staple crop in some countries. There is also the possibility that the costs of bananas will rise with the substantial loss of bananas; this will result in a lot of people not being able to afford them. "M. fijiensis" has been found in all regions of the world that are major producers of bananas and is a constraint for these countries; specifically, Africa, Asia, and South America. Black Sigatoka is a very destructive disease to the foliage of banana trees. The disruption in photosynthesis is so severe that it can cause the farmer to lose up to 50% of their fruit yield. The fruits yielded from banana trees infected with Black Streak Leaf can interrupt the ripening of the banana, specifically causing it to “ripen prematurely and unevenly, and as a result becoming unsuitable for export”. A disruption in the maturation of the fruit can lead to a major shift in the economy of the international commerce. 10% of the bananas that are grown are sold to other countries while the other 90% is consumed by the farmers and local communities. Small farmers growing bananas for local markets cannot afford expensive measures to fight the disease. Black Sigatoka of Bananas threatens the fruit’s economy and the lives of the people who depend on the fruit for subsistence.
Economics of coffee
In the year 2000 in the US, coffee consumption was 22.1 gallons (100.468 litres) per capita. More than 150 million Americans (18 and older) drink coffee on a daily basis, with 65 percent of coffee drinkers consuming their hot beverage in the morning. In 2008, it was the number-one hot beverage of choice among convenience store customers, generating about 78 percent of sales within the hot dispensed beverages category.
Monilinia oxycocci
Typically 2-10% of fruit in diseased beds is infected and becomes unmarketable. Wisconsin is the largest producer of cranberries in the United States (it is Wisconsin's state fruit). In 2010, Wisconsin produced 3.96 million barrels of cranberries, representing nearly 60% of the nation's crop. Cranberries contribute nearly $300 million annually in Wisconsin, and support approximately 3,400 jobs in the state. Even relatively small amounts of cottonball infections can have a dramatic effect on producers' incomes.
Union of Banana Exporting Countries
Banana prices had gone up little in 20 years. A United Nations study had concluded that no more than seventeen cents of each United States dollar spent by North Americans on bananas went to producing countries. At the time the banana trade was highly concentrated with only three US companies participating: United Brands Company (formerly United Fruit), Standard Fruit, and the Del Monte Corporation.
Fungicide use in the United States
Hawaii is the primary state in the U.S. where bananas are grown. The average yield is 15,000 pounds/acre. Approximately 600-800 plants are grown per acre. Planting occurs year-round. Banana bunches are ready for harvest 12 to 15 months after initial planting. On a banana plantation, plants can be seen at all stages of vegetative growth and fruit maturity year-round. Bananas can be harvested any day of the year.
Pecan
Pecans were one of the most recently domesticated major crops. Although wild pecans were well known among native and colonial Americans as a delicacy, the commercial growing of pecans in the United States did not begin until the 1880s. As of 2014, the United States produced an annual crop of 264.2 million pounds or 132,075 tons, with 75% of the total crop produced in Georgia, New Mexico and Texas. They can be grown from USDA hardiness zones approximately 5 to 9, and grow best where summers are long, hot and humid. The nut harvest for growers is typically around mid-October. Outside the United States, Mexico produces nearly half of the world total, similar in volume to the United States, together accounting for 93% of global production. Generally, two or more trees of different cultivars must be present to pollinate each other.
Banana Xanthomonas wilt
Of the numerous diseases infecting bananas, BXW alongside banana bunchy top virus has been the most devastating in recent years. Global concern arose over the livelihoods of African banana farmers and the millions relying on bananas as a staple food when the disease was at its worst between the years 2001 and 2005. It was estimated that in Central Uganda from 2001 and 2004, there was a 30-52 % decrease in banana yield due to BXW infection. Although extensive management of the disease outbreaks has helped reduce the impact of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt even today BXW continues to a pose a real problem to the banana farmer of Central and East Africa.
Banana production in the United States
The first commercial banana farm in the United States was established in Florida, near Silver Lake, in 1876. A number of independent banana farms and cultivars have been located in a number of areas, reaching as far north as the southern Midwest and Ohio river, where wild banana trees can be found along the banks of the Ohio at far southern Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri, just north of Kentucky. This region equates roughly with the northernmost terminus of the subtropical crop-growing region of the US, which ends at about Cincinnati, Ohio, and further east in cities and locations such as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New York City and Long Island in New York, and coastal regions of southern New England. Banana growth further west along this ecological transition line, such as in central to northern Missouri and northern Kansas/far southern Nebraska is highly dubious and uncertain, due to extreme temperature fluctuations and an increase in aridity.
Cannabis in the United States
Roger Roffman, a professor of social work at the University of Washington, asserted in July 2013 that "approximately 3.6 million Americans are daily or near daily users." Peter Reuter, a professor at the School of Public Policy and the Department of Criminology at the University of Maryland, College Park, said that "experimenting with marijuana has long been a normal part of growing up in the U.S.; about half of the population born since 1960 has tried the drug by age 21." A World Health Organization survey found that the United States is the world’s leading per capita marijuana consumer. The 2007 National Survey on Drug Use & Health prepared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicated that 14.4 million U.S. citizens over the age of 12 had used marijuana within a month. The 2008 survey found that 35 million Americans were willing to tell government representatives that they had used marijuana in the past year.
List of banana cultivars
The total number of cultivars of bananas and plantains has been estimated to be anything from around 300 to more than 1000. Names are highly confused, even within a single country. Many common names do not refer to a single cultivar or clone; for example 'Lady's Finger' or 'Lady Finger' has been used as the name for members of different genome groups, including AA and AAB. Many other names are synonyms of cultivars grown in the same or different countries. Attempts have been made to create lists of synonyms. In 2000, Valmayor et al. listed equivalent local names for 68 cultivars across five Southeast Asian countries (the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam), together with their internationally used names. They considered a further 81 cultivars to be unique to one country. In 2007, Ploetz et al. listed more cultivar names and synonyms, with an emphasis on those grown in the islands of the Pacific, but including some grown in areas such as India, Africa and South America. As an example, for the widely grown cultivar 'Dwarf Cavendish', they gave 58 synonyms from 29 different countries or geographical areas. ProMusa has created a checklist of banana cultivar names based on available literature.
Pumpkin
Association of pumpkins with harvest time and pumpkin pie at Canadian and American Thanksgiving reinforce its iconic role. Starbucks turned this association into marketing with its pumpkin spice latte, introduced in 2003. This has led to a notable trend in pumpkin and spice flavored food products in North America. This is despite the fact that North Americans rarely buy whole pumpkins to eat other than when carving jack-o'-lanterns. Illinois farmer Sarah Frey is called "the Pumpkin Queen of America" and sells around five million pumpkins annually, predominantly for use as lanterns.
Apple Maggot Quarantine Area
Washington exported $718 million worth of apples in 2016, making apples the state's seventh largest export, and the apple has been declared the official state fruit. Almost two-thirds of all apples grown in the United States are produced in Washington. According to the Washington Apple Commission, the quality standards for Washington apples "are more stringent than grading standards used in any other growing region in the world". A mandatory inspection program requires apples, all of which are hand-picked, to meet this set of standards that, in some criteria factors, exceed those set by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Banana production in Iceland
Although a small number of banana plants still exist in greenhouses and produce fruit every year, Iceland imports nearly all of the bananas consumed in the country, with imports now amounting to over 18 kg "per capita" "per annum". The Agricultural University of Iceland maintains the last such farm with 600-700 banana plants in its tropical greenhouse, which were received as donations from producers when they shut down (then the " Horticultural College"). Bananas grown there are consumed by the students and staff and are not sold.
Banana bread
National Banana Bread day is 23 February. Bananas appeared in the US in the 1870s and it took a while for them to appear as ingredient items for desserts. The modern banana bread recipe began being published in cookbooks around the 1930s and its popularity was greatly helped by the introduction of baking powder on the market. Some food historians believe banana bread was a byproduct of the Great Depression as resourceful housewives did not wish to throw away overripe bananas (as they were still a costly item to purchase), others believe the modern banana bread was developed in corporate kitchens to promote flour and baking soda products. It could also be a combination of both theories, insofar as being developed in a corporate kitchen to promote flour and baking soda products, as well as marketed as a method to make use of overripe bananas.
M. Levin &amp; Co, Inc
M. Levin & Co. processes full lines of fresh fruits and vegetables, packages and distributes to retailers. Bananas and tropicals remain the company's primary specialty. M. Levin imports bananas from Central and South America, and receives them through ports in Wilmington, Baltimore, and Camden. As of March 2014, M. Levin ripened about 35,000 boxes of bananas a week. The company distributes west to Ohio, south to Virginia, and north to Toronto.
Bacon wrapped food
As of 2013, bacon sales in the United States reached 4 billion dollars, with each American consuming an average of 17.9 pounds of bacon annually.
Banana production in Brazil
Banana production in Brazil accounts for approximately 10% of the entire world banana production, making Brazil a major banana-producing country in the world. Production has steadily increased over the years, rising from 5.4 million tonnes in 1997 to almost 7 million tonnes in 2007. In 2000, Brazil was fourth, behind India, Uganda and Ecuador, in banana production. By 2006, Brazil became the second largest banana-producer, behind only India, followed by China, Ecuador and the Philippines. Most of the bananas produced are consumed domestically. Gross exports has increased from 12.5 thousand tonnes in 1995 to more than 220 thousand tonnes in 2002 and 2003, mostly to neighbours Argentina and Uruguay, but these figures are still far behind industry leaders such as Ecuador, Costa Rica, the Philippines and Colombia which export more than a million tonnes of bananas annually.
Colony of Jamaica
The rise of the banana trade during the second half of the nineteenth century also changed production and trade patterns on the island. Bananas were first exported in 1867, and banana farming grew rapidly thereafter. By 1890, bananas had replaced sugar as Jamaica's principal export. Production rose from 5 million stems (32 percent of exports) in 1897 to an average of 20 million stems a year in the 1920s and 1930s, or over half of domestic exports. As with sugar, the presence of American companies, like the well-known United Fruit Company in Jamaica, was a driving force behind renewed agricultural exports. The British also became more interested in Jamaican bananas than in the country's sugar. Expansion of banana production, however, was hampered by serious labour shortages. The rise of the banana economy took place amidst a general exodus of up to 11,000 Jamaicans a year.
Fair trade bananas
Five companies control about 80% of the conventional banana trade. This situation, plus the intervention of various governments, has kept the price paid to banana growers and wages to workers a small percentage of the supermarket price. Examples of this effect are the banana wars; the formation of the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita Brands Intl.); the Bananagate bribery scandal; military coups to establish and maintain banana republics. There is ongoing industry conflict with unions.
Cooking banana
Plantains are a staple food in the tropical regions of the world, ranking as the tenth most important staple food in the world. As a staple, plantains are treated in much the same way as potatoes and with a similar neutral flavour and texture when the unripe fruit is cooked by steaming, boiling or frying.
Blueberry
In 2016, world production of blueberries (low- and highbush combined) was 552,505 tonnes, led by the United States with 49% of total production and Canada with 32%. In 2016, Canada was the largest producer of wild blueberries, mainly in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.
Banana industry
Along the global banana supply chain major supermarket chains in the US and EU have gained market power over the big producers in the 21st century as they dominate the retail market and increasingly purchase from smaller wholesalers or directly from growers.
Edward Bernays
The United Fruit Company (today's Chiquita Brands International) hired Bernays in the early 1940s for the purpose of promoting banana sales within the United States. Promote them he did, by linking bananas to good health and to American interests, and by placing them strategically in the hands of celebrities, in hotels, and other conspicuous places. Bernays also argued that United Fruit needed to put a positive spin on the banana-growing countries themselves, and for this purpose created a front group called the Middle America Information Bureau, which supplied information to journalists and academics.
Banana production in the Caribbean
Banana cultivation is a major employer of rural labor as it is a labor-intensive industry. In Dominica, it is the second largest employer after the government, providing work for 6,000 farmers with another 700 employed at boxing plants. In St. Lucia, it provides employment for about 10,000 workers. In St.Vincent, there are about 5,000 banana growers.The small size of farms makes for inefficient production and contributes to a low standard of living. In Dominica, 8% of the fruit is supplied by 51% of the banana farming population, medium growers supply 41% and over 51% is supplied by large land holders. In the Windward group generally, the majority of the farming population owns less than a third of the banana acreage. In Grenada, there are a large number of peasant plots given to intercrop cultivation with bananas. In St. Vincent, the pattern is the same, although output is greater from the estates. The small size of farms provides a low income to farmers as they are unable to apply fertilizers or minimize the risk of insect pests and diseases.
Banana
Bananas were introduced to the Americas by Portuguese sailors who brought the fruits from West Africa in the 16th century.
Banana production in Honduras
Honduras began exporting bananas in the late nineteenth century, and the trade grew rapidly. Initially, in the 1870s most banana production was confined to the Bay Islands, serious production did not begin on the mainland until about 1880. The US consul reported that in 1894 goods worth almost $350,000 were exported to the United States through Puerto Cortés, the region's main port, and by 1903 exports had almost tripled to over $900,000. Much of these exports came from the growing banana trade; between 1894 and 1903 the trade had grown almost four-fold from somewhat over 600,000 stems to over two million. Shipping capacity increased as well, from four steamers a month to the United States, to 18. The choice of US destination ports expanded from just New Orleans to include Mobile, Philadelphia and Boston.
Banana plantation
Banana growing is a significant economic engine in many banana-exporting countries because it is labor-intensive, delivers a relatively quick return on effort and investment, provides a weekly income year round, and the crop recovers quickly from hurricanes and other natural disasters. Banana industry exports worldwide total over 100 million tons in a market which generates over US$5 billion per year and employs millions of workers.
Agriculture in Colombia
Colombian bananas (excluding plantains) are another export success story of Colombia's agriculture. Despite the violence that has long affected the producing regions, banana exports, which amounted to about US$525 million in 2006, are the third-largest legal agricultural export of the country, behind coffee and flowers. In 2005 Colombia was the tenth-largest producer, with 2.5 percent of the world's banana output, and the third-largest exporter, with 8 percent of the world's exports after Ecuador and Costa Rica. Output for export, mainly of the Cavendish Valery variety, is highly productive compared to international standards. The Urabá region in Antioquia and the northeast of Magdalena Department are the main areas producing bananas for export. Chiquita Brands International, Dole Food Company, and Del Monte Fresh Produce are among the most important banana-marketing companies in Colombia.
The main destination of Colombia's banana exports is the EU, and the second is the United States. Given the importance of the EU's banana market for Colombia and for Latin America, the outcome of the continuing disputes at the World Trade Organization (WTO) with regard to quotas and tariffs is a major issue to this sector. In November 2007, the WTO ruled against the dramatically increased duties imposed by the EU on its imports of Colombian bananas in January 2006.
Cheese Nips
Statista calculates that in 2016, 1.5 million Americans consumed eight or more bags of Cheese Nips.
Boston Fruit Company
"Previous to 1883 the Jamaica bananas were transported in schooners, but in 1883 two steamers were put on between Boston and that place. ... In 1886 a new steamer was added to the line, and that year these steamers made twenty-six trips. In 1887 four steamers were running by the first of March, beginning a month earlier than previously, and the steamers have been running ever since. Last winter was the first one that fruit steamers ever came to Boston, and owing to that fact, since January 1, 114,963 bunches of Jamaica bananas have been brought to Boston, whereas during the same time last year only 24,042 bunches were received in this city. From March to November a steamer from Jamaica arrives every ten days, and from November to March every two weeks. In the winter time, when the weather is very cold, the Boston Fruit Company have a heating room which is kept at a temperature of about sixty degrees, and in this room may be put 10,000 bunches of bananas. Jamaica bananas are sold from the ship for from $1.40 to $1.50 per bunch for number ones, and for eighty cents per bunch for number twos, and third class bananas bring from forty to fifty cents. The prices are about forty per cent lower than last year, and it is claimed that the fruit is of much better quality, making a virtual decrease of over forty per cent in the prices of bananas in comparison to last year's figures."
Red banana
The red banana has more beta carotene and vitamin C than yellow banana varieties. All bananas contain three natural sources of sugar: sucrose, fructose, and glucose, making them a source of instant and sustainable energy.
Cooking banana
Cooking bananas are banana cultivars in the genus "Musa" whose fruits are generally used in cooking. They may be eaten ripe or unripe and are generally starchy. Many cooking bananas are referred to as plantains ( , ) or green bananas, although not all of them are true plantains. Bananas are treated as a starchy fruit with a relatively neutral flavour and soft texture when cooked. Bananas fruit all year round, making them a reliable all-season staple food.
Fruits &amp; Veggies – More Matters
The United States Department of Agriculture’s "2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans", released in January 2005, recommends various numbers of servings of fruits and vegetables depending on an individual’s calorie needs – ranging from 4 to 13 servings, or 2 to 6.5 cups, per day, yet research indicates that over 90 percent of Americans do not meet their recommended amount. To meet these recommendations, most need to more than double the amount of fruits and vegetables they currently eat. Closing the consumption gap requires a national call to action. Fruits & Veggies—More Matters provides a national call to action designed to encourage Americans to eat more fruits and vegetables for their better health.
Banana equivalent dose
The major natural source of radioactivity in plant tissue is potassium: 0.0117% of the naturally occurring potassium is the unstable isotope potassium-40. This isotope decays with a half-life of about 1.25 billion years (4×10 seconds), and therefore the radioactivity of natural potassium is about 31 becquerel/gram (Bq/g), meaning that, in one gram of the element, about 31 atoms will decay every second. Plants naturally contain radioactive carbon-14 (C), but in a banana containing 15 grams of carbon this would give off only about 3 to 5 beta rays per second. Since a typical banana contains about half a gram of potassium, it will have an activity of roughly 15 Bq. Although the amount in a single banana is small in environmental and medical terms, the radioactivity from a truckload of bananas is capable of causing a false alarm when passed through a Radiation Portal Monitor used to detect possible smuggling of nuclear material at U.S. ports.
Apple
Sliced apples turn brown with exposure to air due to the conversion of natural phenolic substances into melanin upon exposure to oxygen. Different cultivars vary in their propensity to brown after slicing and the genetically engineered Arctic Apples do not brown. Sliced fruit can be treated with acidulated water to prevent this effect. Sliced apple consumption tripled in the US from 2004 to 2014 to 500 million apples annually due to its convenience.
Banana production in Ecuador
At its peak in the mid-1950s, Ecuador was the largest banana producer in the world. In 1954, five companies including Standard Fruit, United Fruit, and Noboa handled 80 percent of Ecuador's banana exports. A decade later, there were 3,000 banana farms in the country, each averaging approximately 158 acres in size. As of 1960, bananas exported from Ecuador accounted for 25 percent of the world's production, out-producing all of the Central American countries.
Cocaine in the United States
The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) reported that in the United States in 1999 that cocaine was used by 3.7 million people, or 1.7% of the household population age 12 and older. Estimates of the current number of those who use cocaine regularly (at least once per month) vary, but 1.5 million is a widely accepted figure within the research community. In 2001, more Hispanics received sentences for crimes relating to powder cocaine than any other ethnicity while more African Americans were convicted of crimes relating to crack cocaine in the United States.
Sweet potato
Sweet potatoes have been a part of the diet in the United States for most of its history, especially in the Southeast. The average per capita consumption of sweet potatoes in the United States is only about per year, down from in 1920. “Orange sweet potatoes (the most common type encountered in the US) received higher appearance liking scores compared with yellow or purple cultivars.” Purple and yellow sweet potatoes were not as well liked by consumers compared to orange sweet potatoes “possibly because of the familiarity of orange color that is associated with sweet potatoes.”
Fe'i banana
Laurence H. MacDaniels published a study of the Fe'i banana in 1947. He reported that Fe'i bananas were the staple carbohydrate food of the Society Islanders, and that more than 95% of the bananas on sale were of the Fe'i type. Although some Fe'i banana plants were found in gardens, most bananas were gathered from the "wild", thought to have been planted in the past and abandoned.
Economy of Jamaica
Banana production in 1999 was 130,000 tons. Bananas formed 2.4% of the exports in 1999 and Jamaica formed around 7.5% of the total production of banana in the Caribbean. Jamaica stopped exporting banana in 2008 after suffering from several years of hurricanes that devastated the plantations.
Tater tots
Originally, the product was very inexpensive. According to advertising lectures at Iowa State University, people did not buy it at first because there was no perceived value. When the price was raised, people began buying it. Today, Americans consume approximately of tater tots, or 3,710,000,000 tots per year.
Cannabis in the United States
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, there have been over twelve million cannabis arrests in the United States since 1996, including 749,825 persons for marijuana violations in 2012. Of those charged with marijuana violations in 2012, 658,231 (88%) were charged with possession only. The remaining 91,593 individuals were charged with "sale/manufacture", a category that does not differentiate for cultivation offenses, even those where the marijuana was being grown for personal or medical use. Marijuana arrests comprise almost one-half (48.3 percent) of all drug arrests reported in the United States. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, there were 8.2 million marijuana arrests from 2001 to 2010, and 88% of those arrests were just for having marijuana with them.
Cannabis (drug)
In the United States, cannabis is overall the number four value crop, and is number one or two in many states including California, New York and Florida, averaging . Some believe it generates an estimated $36 billion market. Some have argued that this estimate is methodologically flawed, and makes unrealistic assumptions about the level of marijuana consumption. Other estimates claiming to correct for this flaw claim that the market is between $2.1-$4.3 billion. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime claims in its 2008 World Drug Report that typical U.S. retail prices are $10–15 per gram (approximately $280–420 per ounce). Street prices in North America are known to range from about , depending on quality.
Fuji (apple)
Outside Japan, the popularity of Fuji apples continues to grow. In 2016 and 2017, Fuji apples accounted for nearly 70% of China's 43 million tons grown. Since their introduction into the U.S. market in the 1980s, Fuji apples have gained popularity with American consumers — as of 2016, Fuji apples ranked number 3 on the US Apple Association's list of most popular apples, only trailing Red Delicious and Gala. Fuji apples are grown in traditional apple-growing states such as Washington, Michigan, New York, and California. Washington State, where more than half of America's apple crop is grown, produces about 135,000 tons of Fuji apples each year, third in volume behind Red Delicious and Gala varieties.
Genetically modified sugar beet
More than 1 million acres of sugar beets are cultivated annually in the United States, with a market value at harvest exceeding $1 billion. GM sugar beets are grown by more than 95 percent of the nation's sugar beet farmers. The United States imports 30% of its sugar, while the remaining 70% is extracted from domestically grown sugar beets and sugarcane. Of the domestically grown sugar crops, over half of the extracted sugar is derived from sugar beets, and the rest from sugarcane.
Canadian health claims for food
According to Statistics Canada during 2008 Canadians ate an average of 79.5 kg vegetables per person, about 4 kg lower than in 2005 when Canadians consumed 83.5 kg per person. Potatoes were the most consumed vegetable with 44%, followed by carrots, lettuce onions and tomatoes which marked a cumulative 29% of all vegetables consumed. During 2008 fruit consumption in Canada increased to a record high 47.5 kg per person. Fresh fruit consumption remains the same as in previous years; however, processed fruit consumption increased by 7%. Berries such as strawberries, cranberries, blackberries and blueberries have had a substantial consumption increase to 5 kg by Canadians in 2008. Oranges also remain a major part of fruit consumption at 4.9 kg per person.
Banana boat (ship)
The large fruit companies such as Standard Fruit Company, United Fruit Company in the United States and Elders & Fyffes Shipping, which itself came under control of the United Fruit Company in 1910, in the banana trade acquired or built ships for the purpose, some strictly banana carriers and others with passenger accommodations.
United Fruit operated a large fleet, advertised as The Great White Fleet, for over a century until its successor Chiquita Brands International sold the last ships in a sale with leaseback in 2007 of eight refrigerated and four container ships that transported approximately 70% of the company's bananas to North America and Europe. At one time the fleet consisted of 100 refrigerated ships and was the world's largest private fleet with some being lent to the Central Intelligence Agency to support the attempted overthrow of the Castro regime in the Bay of Pigs landing.
Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense
Panama disease is one of the most destructive plant diseases of modern times. It is believed to have originated in Southeast Asia and was first reported in Australia in 1876. By 1950 it had spread to all the banana-producing regions of the world with the exception of some islands in the South Pacific, the Mediterranean, Melanesia and Somalia.
Panama disease affects a wide range of banana cultivars; however, it is best known for the damage it caused to a single cultivar in the early export plantations. Before 1960, a total reliance was put on the cultivar 'Gros Michel', and it supplied almost all the export trade. It proved susceptible to the disease and the use of infected rhizomes to establish new plantations caused widespread and severe losses. Some indication of the scale of the losses is demonstrated by the complete eradication of production on 30,000 hectares of plantation in the Ulua Valley of Honduras between 1940 and 1960. In Suriname, an entire operation of 4,000 hectares was out of business within eight years and in the Quepos area of Costa Rica, 6,000 hectares were destroyed in twelve years.
By the mid-1900s, resistant cultivars in the 'Cavendish' subgroup were being used as a substitute for 'Gros Michel' in the export trade. These cultivars have proved resilient and grow well in the western tropics, remaining the clones on which the current export trades are based. Unfortunately, in several growing areas in the Eastern Hemisphere these cultivars are susceptible to the disease. It is considered inevitable that this susceptibility will spread to the Western Hemisphere, and this poses a significant threat to production because there are currently no acceptable replacement cultivars. To make things worse, this variant of the pathogen also affects plantains, "Musa acuminata × balbisiana", which are an important staple food in tropical regions of the world. The average American eats 26.2 pounds of the Cavendish banana each year and the question is being asked as to whether this oft-consumed fruit is on course to extinction.
Banana Wars
The Banana Wars began with injustices, corruption, lawless societies and labor abuse in Latin America. Banana workers began what was comparable to a civil rights movement in the tropical fruit trade. Warring tropical countries stemmed from maltreatment and abusive working conditions gave rise to one of the earliest and most militant labor movements in early Latin America. When high import duties on bananas were announced in 1913, consumer representatives together with the banana industry protested successfully. They claimed it was the most widely consumed fruit among the urban poor, thus contrasting it with the aristocratic traditions associated with the consumption of other tropical commodities such as tea, coffee, and chocolate. The discourse and corruption facing Latin American people and governments is what prompted the United States influence.
Fair trade cocoa
The global chocolate industry was worth about $98 billion by the end of 2016. In 2015, the United States alone had a market size of $22 billion and 81% of Americans were consuming chocolate. This adds up to America producing about 1/5 of the world’s demand for chocolate and the potential to have a major impact on the lives of cocoa farmers around the world. Founded in 2006, Theo Chocolate was the first bean-to-bar, Fair Trade and organic certified company in the United States. Since then, Dandelion Chocolate, Askinose Chocolate, Chuao Chocolatier, Droga Chocolates, and many more.
Flhorban 920
Global banana Production is estimated at between 105-120 million tonnes per year, with the international banana trade valued at $7.9 billion annually. With much of this production being of the Musa AAA group, there is high potential for the spread of FB920 pending appropriate local growing conditions.
Banana industry
The banana industry is an important part of the global industrial agrobusiness.
Most bananas go into export and international trade for consumption in Western countries. They are grown on banana plantations primarily in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Central and South America.
History of Jamaica
The rise of the banana trade during the second half of the 19th century also changed production and trade patterns on the island. Bananas were first exported in 1867, and banana farming grew rapidly thereafter. By 1890, bananas had replaced sugar as Jamaica's principal export. Production rose from 5 million stems (32 percent of exports) in 1897 to an average of 20 million stems a year in the 1920s and 1930s, or over half of domestic exports. As with sugar, the presence of American companies, like the well-known United Fruit Company in Jamaica, was a driving force behind renewed agricultural exports. The British also became more interested in Jamaican bananas than in the country's sugar. Expansion of banana production, however, was hampered by serious labour shortages. The rise of the banana economy took place amidst a general exodus of up to 11,000 Jamaicans a year.
Watermelon
Today, farmers in approximately 44 states in the United States grow watermelon commercially. Georgia, Florida, Texas, California and Arizona are the United States' largest watermelon producers. This now-common fruit is often large enough that groceries often sell half or quarter melons. Some smaller, spherical varieties of watermelon—both red- and yellow-fleshed—are sometimes called "icebox melons". The largest recorded fruit was grown in Tennessee in 2013 and weighed .
Colony of Jamaica
The rise of the banana trade during the second half of the nineteenth century also changed production and trade patterns on the island. Bananas were first exported in 1867, and banana farming grew rapidly thereafter. By 1890, bananas had replaced sugar as Jamaica's principal export. Production rose from 5 million stems (32 percent of exports) in 1897 to an average of 20 million stems a year in the 1920s and 1930s, or over half of domestic exports. As with sugar, the presence of American companies, like the well-known United Fruit Company in Jamaica, was a driving force behind renewed agricultural exports. The British also became more interested in Jamaican bananas than in the country's sugar. Expansion of banana production, however, was hampered by serious labour shortages. The rise of the banana economy took place amidst a general exodus of up to 11,000 Jamaicans a year.
Banana production in Brazil
Genetic research into banana production and scientific studies is helping to maximise output and quality, in addition to increasing resistance to disease increasingly as the country is developing. A Banana Genome program and a genetic data bank, the DataMusa, is in place institutionally in Brazil to monitor and conduct research. The data bank has 40,000 sequences of DNA and another 5,000 genes and under surveillance of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) in Brazil. In Brazil, 20 scholars and researchers are working on the program, including ongoing collaboration in research into bananas with the Catholic University of Brasília (UCB) and with the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development (Cirad). Notably the programme has done much since 2002 to curtail the effects of the black sigatoka which previously caused widespread disaster to banana plantations in the Amazon. The Brazilian Banana Genome program is also supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) internationally with support from experts in countries such as France and Belgium, UK, Japan and the Czech Republic. Apart from molecular genomics research, Embrapa also has a successful banana breeding program, generating disease-resistant varieties, such as the Pacovan Ken. Pacovan Ken, a banana breed resistant to yellow and black sigatoka and to Panama disease launched in November 2001 as a national crop plant in Brazil, is named after Embrapa scientist Kenneth Shepherd.
Berry
According to figures from Global Berry Congress 2015 in the US, over 6 million dollars of soft fruit are sold, accounting for 19% of total supermarket revenue, more than bananas (a botanical berry) at 11%, and apples (14%), with continued rapid growth in the market expected.
Banana equivalent dose
The committed dose in the human body due to bananas is not cumulative because the amount of potassium (and therefore of K) in the human body is fairly constant due to homeostasis, so that any excess absorbed from food is quickly compensated by the elimination of an equal amount.
Snack
A 2010 study showed that children in the United States snacked on average six times per day, approximately twice as often as American children in the 1970s. This represents consumption of roughly 570 calories more per day than U.S. children consumed in the 1970s.
Peanut
In Canada and the United States, peanuts are used in candies, cakes, cookies, and other sweets. Individually, they are eaten dry-roasted with or without salt. Ninety-five percent of Canadians eat peanuts or peanut butter, with average consumption of of peanuts per person annually, and 79% of Canadians consuming peanut butter weekly. In the United States, peanuts and peanut butter are central to American dietary practices, and are typically considered as comfort foods. Peanut butter is a common peanut-based food, representing half of American total peanut consumption and $850 million in annual retail sales. Peanut soup is found on restaurant menus in the southeastern states. In some southern portions of the US, peanuts are boiled for several hours until soft and moist. Peanuts are also deep-fried, sometimes within the shell. Per person, Americans eat of peanut products annually, spending a total of $2 billion in peanut retail purchases.
Vegetable
The USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends consuming five to nine servings of fruit and vegetables daily. The total amount consumed will vary according to age and gender, and is determined based upon the standard portion sizes typically consumed, as well as general nutritional content. Potatoes are not included in the count as they are mainly providers of starch. For most vegetables and vegetable juices, one serving is half of a cup and can be eaten raw or cooked. For leafy greens, such as lettuce and spinach, a single serving is typically a full cup. A variety of products should be chosen as no single fruit or vegetable provides all the nutrients needed for health.
Cooking banana
Plantain is 32% carbohydrates with 2% dietary fiber and 15% sugars, 1% protein, 0.4% fat, and 65% water, supplying 122 calories in a 100-gram serving (table). Raw plantain is an excellent source (20% or higher of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin B6 (23% DV) and vitamin C (22% DV), and a good source (10-19% DV) of magnesium and potassium (table).
Banana
"Musa" species are native to tropical Indomalaya and Australia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. They are grown in 135 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make fiber, banana wine, and banana beer and as ornamental plants. The world's largest producers of bananas in 2017 were India and Tanzania, which together accounted for 24% of total production.
American wine
Americans became more educated about wines, and increased their demand for high-quality wine. All 50 states now have some acreage in vineyard cultivation. By 2004, 668 million gallons (25.3 million hectoliters) of wine were consumed in the United States. Today, the U.S. produces over 800 million gallons of wine a year, of which California produces more than 84%, followed by Washington, New York, Pennsylvania, and Oregon. In the second decade of the 21st century, the US wine industry faces the growing challenges of competition from international exports and managing domestic regulations on interstate sales and shipment of wine.
Union of Banana Exporting Countries
UPEB proposed an export tax of one dollar for every forty-pound box of bananas exported. The companies protested and threatened to withdraw their operations. There was also a glut on the world banana market and Ecuador, the leading producer, refused to enact the tax. Former President of Costa Rica José Figueres stated that Standard Fruit's property should be nationalized if the companies refused to pay the tax. Standard Fruit threatened the new President, Daniel Oduber that if there were any more threats, the company would pull out of Costa Rica. Costa Rica dropped its demand to 25¢ a crate.
Bottled water in the United States
The United States is the largest consumer market for bottled water in the world, followed by Mexico, China, and Brazil.
In 1975, Americans hardly drank bottled water—just one gallon of bottled water per person per year on average. By 2005, it had grown to ~26 gallons (98.5 L) per person per year.
In 2008, U.S. bottled water sales topped for 28.9% of the U.S. liquid refreshment beverage market, exceeding sales of all other beverages except carbonated soft drinks, followed by fruit juices and sports drinks. By 2011, this number had risen to 9.1 billion gallons. In 2017, the single-serve water sales totaled $24.1 billion. Americans drink of bottled water per capita per year.
From 1970 (16 brands) over 1998 (50 brands) to 2012 (195 brands), the number of mineral water brands in the U.S. has grown exponentially.
Banana
A banana is an edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus "Musa". In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguishing them from dessert bananas. The fruit is variable in size, color, and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind, which may be green, yellow, red, purple, or brown when ripe. The fruits grow in clusters hanging from the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible seedless (parthenocarp) bananas come from two wild species – "Musa acuminata" and "Musa balbisiana". The scientific names of most cultivated bananas are "Musa acuminata", "Musa balbisiana", and "Musa" × "paradisiaca" for the hybrid "Musa acuminata" × "M. balbisiana", depending on their genomic constitution. The old scientific name "Musa sapientum" is no longer used.
Banana production in the United States
Bananas have also been cultivated in states of the Pacific Northwest, including in areas of Washington, Oregon, and various highland areas and sheltered oceanic/temperate valleys in southern Idaho.
Banana
Raw bananas (not including the peel) are 75% water, 23% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and contain negligible fat. A 100-gram serving supplies 89 Calories, 31% of the US recommended Daily Value of vitamin B, and moderate amounts of vitamin C, manganese and dietary fiber (see table).
Bananas are a staple starch for many tropical populations. Depending upon cultivar and ripeness, the flesh can vary in taste from starchy to sweet, and texture from firm to mushy. Both the skin and inner part can be eaten raw or cooked. The primary component of the aroma of fresh bananas is isoamyl acetate (also known as "banana oil"), which, along with several other compounds such as butyl acetate and isobutyl acetate, is a significant contributor to banana flavor.
Patti Clayton
Clayton was the original voice of Miss Chiquita, the Chiquita banana singer. In 1944, bananas were an exotic fruit in America. The Chiquita banana jingle was introduced, not only to promote bananas, but to teach the public how to use and store them. With music and lyrics provided by admen Garth Montgomery, Leonard Mackenzie, and William Wirges, Clayton sang "I'm Chiquita Banana and I've come to say, bananas have to ripen in a certain way... bananas like the climate of the very very tropical equator, so you should never put bananas in the refrigerator". This was one of the most successful commercial jingles of all time, and was played up to 376 times a day on radio stations across the United States.
National Bison Day
National Bison Day is an annual commemoration of the ecological, cultural, historical and economic contribution of the American bison (also commonly known as the American buffalo) to the United States. It has been held each year since 2012 on the first Saturday in November. Bison supporters, including Native Americans, bison producers, conservationists, sportsmen, and educators typically plan local events and social media engagements celebrating and promoting the bison. A campaign is underway to pass federal legislation officially recognizing National Bison Day. Although the legislation has so far failed to pass, the Senate has passed a resolution each year since 2013 recognizing the day.
The purpose of National Bison Day is to encourage celebration of the American Bison, also commonly known as the American buffalo, a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds, became nearly extinct by a combination of commercial Bison hunting and slaughter in the 19th century and introduction of bovine diseases from domestic cattle.
Western pattern diet
Vegetable consumption is low among Americans, with only 13% of the population consuming the recommended amounts. Boys ages 9 to 13 and girls ages 14 to 18 consume the lowest amounts of vegetables relative to the general population. Potatoes and tomatoes, which are key components of many meals, account for 39% of the vegetables consumed by Americans. 60% of vegetables are consumed individually, 30% are included as part of a dish, and 10% are found in sauces.
Morning banana diet
The diet plan allows consumption of unlimited bananas with room temperature water or a serving of milk for breakfast. Although technically the diet allows unlimited banana consumption, nutritionists suggest that more than 400 bananas a day will "cause your heart to stop beating." Lunch and dinner food choices are unrestricted. Users can have one or more bananas as a snack between meals, but no other desserts are permitted. Nothing is eaten after 8 pm, and the dieter must go to bed by midnight.
Banana republic
The history of the "banana republic" began with the introduction of the banana fruit to the U.S. in 1870, by Lorenzo Dow Baker, captain of the schooner "Telegraph", who bought bananas in Jamaica and sold them in Boston at a 1,000 percent profit. The banana proved popular with Americans, as a nutritious tropical fruit that was less expensive than locally-grown fruit in the U.S., such as apples; in 1913, 25 cents () bought a dozen bananas, but only two apples. In 1873, to produce food for their railroad workers, the American railroad tycoons Henry Meiggs and his nephew, Minor C. Keith, established banana plantations along the railroads they built in Costa Rica; recognizing the profitability of exporting bananas, they began exporting the fruit to the Southeastern U.S.
Banana plantation
Banana plants may grow with varying degrees of success in diverse climatic conditions, but commercial banana plantations are primarily found in equatorial regions, in banana exporting countries. The four leading banana export countries worldwide are Ecuador, Costa Rica, Philippines, and Colombia. Ecuador provides more than 33% of global banana exports. In 2004, banana producing countries totaled 130. Production, as well as exports and imports of bananas, are nonetheless concentrated in a few equatorial countries. 75% of total banana production in 2004 was generated in 10 counties. India, Ecuador, Brazil and China produced half of total bananas. Latin American and Caribbean countries led banana production up to the 1980s, and Asian nations took the lead in banana production during the 1990s. African production levels have remained mostly unchanged.
Banana
In regions such as North America and Europe, "Musa" fruits offered for sale can be divided into "bananas" and "plantains", based on their intended use as food. Thus the banana producer and distributor Chiquita produces publicity material for the American market which says that "a plantain is not a banana". The stated differences are that plantains are more starchy and less sweet; they are eaten cooked rather than raw; they have thicker skin, which may be green, yellow or black; and they can be used at any stage of ripeness. Linnaeus made the same distinction between plantains and bananas when first naming two "species" of "Musa". Members of the "plantain subgroup" of banana cultivars, most important as food in West Africa and Latin America, correspond to the Chiquita description, having long pointed fruit. They are described by Ploetz et al. as "true" plantains, distinct from other cooking bananas. The cooking bananas of East Africa belong to a different group, the East African Highland bananas, so would not qualify as "true" plantains on this definition.
Banana
All widely cultivated bananas today descend from the two wild bananas "Musa acuminata" and "Musa balbisiana". While the original wild bananas contained large seeds, diploid or polyploid cultivars (some being hybrids) with tiny seeds are preferred for human raw fruit consumption. These are propagated asexually from offshoots. The plant is allowed to produce two shoots at a time; a larger one for immediate fruiting and a smaller "sucker" or "follower" to produce fruit in 6–8 months.
Banana equivalent dose
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), isotopically pure potassium-40 will give a committed dose equivalent of 5.02 nSv over 50 years per becquerel ingested by an average adult. Using this factor, one banana equivalent dose comes out as about 5.02 nSv/Bq × 31 Bq/g × 0.5 g ≈ 78 nSv = 0.078 μSv. In informal publications, one often sees this estimate rounded up to 0.1 μSv. The International Commission on Radiological Protection estimates a coefficient of 6.2 nSv/Bq for the ingestion of potassium-40, with this datum the calculated BED would be 0.096 μSv, closer to the standard value of 0.1 μSv.
Banana equivalent dose
The radiation exposure from consuming a banana is approximately 1% of the average daily exposure to radiation, which is 100 banana equivalent doses (BED). The maximum permitted radiation leakage for a nuclear power plant is equivalent to 2,500 BED (250 μSv) per year, while a chest CT scan delivers 70,000 BED (7 mSv). A lethal dose of radiation is approximately 35,000,000 BED (3500 mSv). A person living from the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor received an average of 800 BED of exposure to radiation during the 1979 Three Mile Island accident.
Dried fruit
Today, dried fruit is produced in most regions of the world, and consumption occurs in all cultures and demographic segments. In the United States, Americans consumed an average of (processed weight) of dried fruit in 2006. Raisins accounted for about two thirds of this. California produces the largest percentage of the US and the world's dried fruit crop. It accounts for over 99% of the US crop of raisins and dried plums, 98% of dried figs, 96% of dried peaches, 92% of apricots and over 90% of dates. Most of California dried fruit production is centered in the San Joaquin Valley where the soil and climate, especially the hot, dry summers, provide ideal growing conditions. While these fruits were commonly dried in the sun in the past, now only raisins are almost entirely naturally sun-dried.
Cavendish banana
Cavendish bananas accounted for 47% of global banana production between 1998 and 2000, and the vast majority of bananas entering international trade.