Fruit stand
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A fruit stand or fruit stall is a primarily open-air business venue that sells seasonal fruit and many fruit products from local growers. It might also sell vegetables and various processed items derived from fruit. The fruit stand is a small business structure that is primarily run as an independent sole proprietorship, with very few franchises or branches of larger fruit stand conglomerates, though many large food industry businesses have developed from fruit stand businesses.

The fruit stand has been a neighborhood hub for many generations and is one of the few enterprises that is important to every culture and readily available on every continent. Fruit stands still comprise a primary distribution system for the fresh produce consumed by millions in developing countries.
History
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In the most traditional food distribution model, farmers and growers sell foodstuffs directly to consumers. A simple stand located adjacent to an established road/transportation route is the most familiar model. Fruit and produce stands are often seasonal, harvest-based operations. In the U.S., some fruit stands have grown into famous grocery store chains. Started as a fruit stand in 1948, the Dorothy Lane Market (DLM) company is now a chain of specialty grocery stores.[1] Sprouts, LLC, with over $2.5 million actual sales in 2013,[2] claims to share a similar history.
According to the History Channel, Dole Foods began as a roadside pineapple stand in Hawaii.[3] In 2010, the food industry conglomerate had revenues over $6.9 billion from operations in more than 90 companies.[4]
Regulation
[edit]![]() | The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (May 2025) |
The U.S. Department of Agriculture was created in the 1860s. By the 1890s, the USDA was beginning to become involved in livestock inspections.[5] In 1905, the U.S. government had a call to action when Upton Sinclair polemic[6] against unsanitary working conditions at the expansive Chicago stockyards was published as a magazine serial. This became a national issue in part because the millions of animals were slaughtered and processed each year were distributed via rail to markets all across the nation. Initially a socialist's demand for better conditions for labor, ‘The Jungle’ was a catalyst for food industry regulation.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is the federal agency tasked with food safety regulation. States also pass laws regulating food industry issues. From the FDA website:[7]
Public policy research
[edit]Harvard Law School
[edit]Harvard Law School established their Food Law and Policy Clinic of the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation in 2010 to address growing concerns about the health, environmental, and economic consequences of the laws and policies that structure the U.S. food system.[8]
Their 2012 report titled ‘Good Laws, Good Food: Putting State Food Policy to Work for our Communities’[9] was a collaboration with Mark Winne, respected food distribution expert, food industry activist and author of ‘Closing the Food Gap.’ Winne's term ‘food desert’ characterizes areas, usually urban, which do not have a local supermarket. This situation, according to Winne and others, underpins a kaleidoscope of social and economic challenges for neighborhood residents.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Home - Dorothy Lane Market". Dorothylane.com. Archived from the original on 2020-03-31. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
- ^ Sprouts 2013 10-K, p. 44: http://investors.sprouts.com/secfiling.cfm?filingid=1193125-14-73116&cik Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ By History.com Editors. "Hawaii". History. Archived from the original on 2018-02-19. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
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has generic name (help) - ^ "About Dole". Dole.com. Archived from the original on 2015-11-17. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
- ^ "leg : USDA ARS". Ars.usda.gov. Archived from the original on 2016-04-10. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
- ^ Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, 1905 (serial), 1906 (book)
- ^ "Retail Food Protection | FDA". Fda.gov. Archived from the original on 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
- ^ Harvard Law School (2014-06-23). "Food Law and Policy Clinic | Harvard Law School". Law.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 2015-05-06. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
- ^ "Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic Publishes State Food Policy Toolkit | Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic". Archived from the original on 2013-05-18. Retrieved 2014-04-06.