Repost: Dole Is A Healthy Stock

this feature is from Forbes.com sent to us by our CEO... Anyway, I'm just proud I belong to a company promoting healthy living, thus, being patronized by almost all people in the world.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/03/obama-children-obesity-intelligent-investing-dole_print.html


Dole Is A Healthy Stock
Hilary Kramer, 08.03.10, 3:00 PM ET

Since President Obama took office, Americans have seen a major focus toward nutrition as result of a signature policy initiative led by the First Lady's campaign to stem childhood obesity.

Let's face it, a lot of Americans are fat--approximately 34%, more than 104 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many of them are kids. If we do not stop it, a whole new generation of health problems beyond diabetes will come crashing down on the health care system.

So after years of being boring, nutrition has become cool; the rage among local governments, celebrities and school boards.

It could not have happened soon enough. Childhood obesity has tripled in the last 30 years, says the CDC. Changing this trend will be tough and require a behavioral change, not simply restocking the cupboard with 100-calorie cookies.

Americans will simply need to eat more of what is nutritious.

That the American diet is in the middle of a makeover means that certain companies will reap healthy rewards. Which brings me to the Dole Food Company--a stock that is undervalued, underestimated and misunderstood. In late October of 2009, and with almost no pomp and circumstance, Dole went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Very few on Wall Street realize that Dole has tens of thousands of employees worldwide and is the world's biggest grower of nutritious food. Dole is the world's farmer.

In short, Dole is perfectly positioned to inherit the windfall of consumer demand as Americans seek healthier products at the grocery stores.

At Dole nutrition is a kind of religion. Its owner, David H. Murdock, is an evangelist for healthy living. The cafeteria at its Westlake Village, Calif. headquarters is probably what the White House had in mind when it envisioned remaking our kids' cafeterias. I couldn't find any soda for sale. Instead, there are only fresh fruits and dishes prepared to order on-site using fresh ingredients.

Not surprisingly, Murdock has donated close to $1 billion of his personal money for the development of a major nutrition research center, the North Carolina Research Center. His vision for NCRC is to create a world-class research hub that can become the world's epicenter of nutrition and disease research. Currently researchers from several of the nation's top universities are conducting work at the 350-acre center.

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This is where the Dole Nutrition Research Laboratory does its work. Currently it is tasked with researching how to develop a type of nutrition label for every fruit and vegetable the company produces, noting all the nutrients and phytochemicals and their potential benefits on human health.

Recently I spoke with Nick Gillitt, director of the lab, who said, "So many companies want to talk about what is not in their foods and we want to tell you what is and how good it can be for you."

Gillitt is indeed onto something. In the gold rush mentality of Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiative, all kinds of producers of basically unhealthy foods have come out of the woodwork to vow and make their products more healthy. This is admirable, but it raises the question of how bad for our health these products were in the first place. Candy companies and soda makers can tout the reductions in sugar and sodium in their products, but this is still not real progress in fighting the obesity epidemic in America.

Literally it's our bad eating habits that are killing us. While "Let's Move" has sparked a national debate on nutrition, there is more work to be done. Lawmakers would do well by embracing the kind of work being done by fruit and vegetable growers like Dole.

Quietly Dole has been one of the first organizations actively trying to remake food in the school cafeteria.

The company has donated salad bars to 50 schools in California and created new programs like Dole SuperKids. It's been doing this work for the last 20 years, dating back to the Dole "Five-a-Day" initiative. As a result, Dole estimates that it has reached more than 145,000 teachers and more than 48,000 schools through these efforts. This number will undoubtedly increase as Dole looks to donate an additional 15 salad bars in Washington, D.C.; Kannapolis, N.C. and California next month.

The company is also making serious ground in its social responsibility efforts. This year it introduced a process that reduces the water used in its banana harvesting by 80%.The innovative process, called the New Millennium Packing System, specifically targets reducing the use of water by a factor of 10 and energy use by 50%, compared to a traditional packing plant. So that banana you are eating is probably more "green" than you may think.

The headlines on nutrition, however, have gone to the Pepsi's of the world, who are vowing to remove their products from our children's schools. Instead of merely applauding such moves, Washington should do more and insist that our food supply shed the sugar, sodium and transfats sooner and push fresh foods more aggressively. It's a nutrition arms race and it will be interesting to see who wins--those who grow and sell fresh food or those who are trying to make unhealthy food less unhealthy in a laboratory. With more than 31 million children taking part in our National School Lunch program and 11 million more in the breakfast program, the U.S. has a lot on the line.

And for me, an investment manager, equities analyst and a specialist in green companies, I have a lot on the line, too. I am always screening and searching for the companies that will do well within an evolving cultural, social and legislative environment. Dole is best portioned to thrive as our kids finally start to eat right.

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