Chiquita Brands International, Inc.

formerly (1970–90) United Brands Co.

U.S. company specializing in tropical produce and processed foods.

It was formed in 1970 by the merger of United Fruit Co., a grower and marketer of bananas, and AMK Corp., the holding company for the meatpacker John Morrell and Co. Chiquita owns and leases extensive farms and plantations in Central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean. Over the course of the company's history, it has grown bananas, sugar, cocoa, and abaca and has harvested tropical woods, essential oils, and rubber. More recently the company has focused on bananas and other produce, and it also processes and distributes packaged foods. "Miss Chiquita," its well-known trademark, was introduced in 1944. The familiar Chiquita stickers were first applied to the company's bananas in 1963.

* * *

▪ American corporation

      American corporation formed in 1970 as the United Brands Company in the merger of United Fruit Company and AMK Corporation (the holding company for John Morrell and Co., meat packers). The company, which adopted its present name in 1990, markets and distributes bananas and other produce, processes and distributes meats, manufactures and distributes other foods, fats, oils, and beverages, and administers diversified activities in plastics, animal feeds, telecommunications, and other areas. Chiquita is the leading distributor of bananas in the United States. Headquarters are in Cincinnati, Ohio.

      United Fruit Company was founded in 1899 in the merger of the Boston Fruit Company and other companies producing and marketing bananas grown in the Caribbean islands, Central America, and Colombia. The principal founder was Minor C. Keith, who had begun to acquire banana plantations and to build a railroad in Costa Rica as early as 1872. In 1884 he contracted with the Costa Rican government to fund the national debt and to lay about 50 additional miles of track. In return he received full rights to these rail lines for 99 years as well as 800,000 acres (325,000 hectares) of virgin land, tax exempt for 20 years.

      United Fruit Company was initially capitalized at more than $11 million. However, by absorbing more than 20 rival firms, the company expanded its capitalization to $215 million by 1930, making it the largest employer in Central America. From the company's founding, Caribbean and Latin American governments made available to it vast undeveloped tracts of jungle lands, which United Fruit cleared, planted, and supplied with extensive railroad and port facilities. Marketing operations included a shipping arm known as the Great White Fleet, then one of the largest private merchant navies. All these efforts were matched by an advertising campaign that was extremely successful in marketing bananas in North America and Europe.

      As a foreign corporation of conspicuous size, United Fruit sometimes became the target of popular attacks. The Latin American press often referred to it as el pulpo (“the octopus”), accusing it of exploiting labourers, bribing officials, and influencing governments, especially during the period of Yankee “dollar diplomacy” in the early decades of the 20th century. The company's defenders, however, pointed out that United Fruit's early excesses were somewhat mitigated later. Through the Associated Producers Program, the company gradually transferred title of portions of its landholdings to individual growers, provided them with reasonable credit terms and technological assistance, and acted as marketing agent for their produce; its workers were comparatively well paid and were provided with medical care. After the European Union imposed import restrictions on bananas in the mid-1990s, Chiquita suffered steep declines in profits, which led to its reorganization under bankruptcy protection in 2001.

      In 1998 the Cincinnati Enquirer published a series of articles accusing Chiquita of a variety of misdeeds, including workers' rights violations; the newspaper retracted the articles after it was learned that some of the evidence on which the stories were based had been obtained illegally. In 2007 Chiquita pleaded guilty to charges of making illegal protection payments to a right-wing militia in Colombia, for which it was fined $25 million as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

* * *