I feel like every time I turn around, I see Dole Foods in the news. Just so all Food Fighters are on the same page, I thought I'd take a minute to tally "the Tallyman" and his appearances in the news of late.

* Dole and Monsanto team up on veggies

I think I had a nightmare about this once. I mean, this is like Doc Ock and Lex Luthor teaming up, only no superhero to call on for a DC/Marvel smackdown.

The idea here is to genetically alter veggies into more colorful, more shelf-stable products. Here's the round up from Monsanto (oh, how I slay me!):

"If I buy broccoli on Saturday or Sunday and try to cook it on Wednesday, it'll get wilty," said Monsanto spokeswoman Riddhi Trivedi-St. Clair.

Yeah, we better alter the genetic code of these species and poison the food supply for THAT. I mean, no sense figuring out how to, you know, grow the food closer to the people who eat it. (Can't you just hear Trivedi-St. Clair stamping her foot, with a little whine in her voice when she delivers that quote?)

* Dole Foods pressures indie filmmakers of BANANAS!

The film in question, BANANAS!, was shown at the LA Film Festival on Saturday and Tuesday nights this week, and the team behind BANANAS! reported this about Tuesday night's show:

Last night's screening was again before a packed house -- including "Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World" author Dan Koeppel -- and featured a spirited and emotional Q&A after the screening. Dole's attorneys have stepped up its harassing attacks and have sent near-daily correspondence.

Indeed, you can read some of Dole's love letters here.

* Dole Foods looks to overturn $2 billion in judgements

As I said in the link above, this would be a a real pity, since so many farmworkers who were truly impacted by Dole's pesticides will never get their day in court.

* Once clueless consumers are starting to ask questions

Especially when news like this from several months ago is still filtering into mainstream media:

* Dole sued for funding paramilitaries

A key witness for the plaintiffs is the jailed AUC [paramilitary] commander named Jose Gregorio Mangones who demobilized as part of a peace deal with Colombia’s government and who has admitted responsibility for more than half the killings cited in the suit, Collingsworth said.

At least three other former senior AUC commanders also have said that foreign banana companies that operated in Colombia, including Dole and Chiquita, made regular payments to their militias.

But hey. At least Dole is Fair Trade certified.

Mad? Take action: Screw the Tallyman.