DEL MONTE CORPORATION

American corporation engaged primarily in processing, canning, and distributing food. It is a major grower and distributor of bananas and pineapples, and it owns subsidiaries engaged in trucking, public warehousing, institutional food service and vending, building maintenance, and security services. Support activities include farming, cattle ranching, fishing, packaging, and printing. In 1979 Del Monte (headquartered in San Francisco) was merged into R.J. Reynolds Industries, Inc., headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C. In the 1870s and '80s California became a major producer of fruits and vegetables; and, in 1899, 11 of the state's biggest canners merged under the name California Fruit Canners Association. In 1916 CFCA drew in two more canners and a food brokerage house, incorporated itself as California Packing Corporation, or Calpak, and began marketing its products under the Del Monte brand. The new company then operated more than 60 canneries, some in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska. In 1917 it acquired pineapple lands and a cannery in Hawaii and, in the 1920s, added canneries in Florida, the Midwestern United States, and the Philippines. After World War II more facilities were constructed or purchased in several foreign countries. These multinational operations made the name California Packing Corporation obsolete, and in 1967 the name Del Monte Corporation was adopted.