HomeProductsHealthy RecipesPromotionsCompany InfoNutrition InstituteDole Kids
  Home > Privacy Policy

Last Updated: July 25, 2005

This website (dole.com) and its associated United States-based websites (dolenutrition.com, dolesuperfoods.com, dolefoodservice.com, and dole5aday.com) (collectively, the "Sites"), are controlled or maintained by Dole Food Company, Inc. ("Dole," "we," "us," or "our"). At Dole, we recognize that many visitors to our Sites are concerned about the information they provide to us and how we treat that information. Dole respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personally identifiable information. We have adopted this privacy policy ("Privacy Policy") to explain what information may be collected on our Sites and how such information may be used and/or shared with others. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected through our Sites and not through any other sources. This Privacy Policy is subject to the terms and conditions posted on our Sites ("Terms and Conditions"). Please review this Privacy Policy each time you visit our Sites to ensure that you have read and agree with the current policy, as it may be amended without notice. The date of our Privacy Policy is set forth at the top of the document. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Privacy Policy on our Sites. Your use of our Sites constitutes your agreement to the terms and conditions set forth in this Privacy Policy.

YOUR INFORMATION AND HOW WE USE IT

We respect the privacy of all of our on-line guests. Our web server recognizes and records certain non-personal information about visitors. Currently, this information may include the type of browser used (e.g., Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer), the type of operating system (e.g., Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows XP, Linux, Macintosh) and the domain name or ip address of the visitor's Internet service provider (e.g., America Online, Compuserve, Earthlink), the number of users that visit a specific page on our Sites and the character and duration of such visits. However, in the future, we may collect other non-personal information as new technology for the Internet becomes available. Non-personal information is used only for internal review purposes such as tracking the total number of visitors to our Sites on an aggregate, non-personally identifiable, basis. This information may be used to help analyze site traffic and improve our services. We may also aggregate such information to create statistical data and we may share that information with potential advertisers, partners, affiliates and other third parties. At no point, however, do we access any personally identifiable facts in this process.

We do not require visitors to our Sites to register or provide information in order to view our Sites. However, in certain circumstances, you may be asked to provide us with some specific information about yourself in order to use or access certain features on our Sites, such as sweepstakes, contests, trivia games, rebate and coupon offers, surveys and other promotions; to receive information from us in the future, such as newsletters; or to fulfill a request or order for publications, merchandise or other information or materials. Such information may include contact information (such as your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address), as well as other information we may require to carry out certain features of our Sites (such as demographic information, including age, gender, hobbies, preferences, etc.). We do not collect personally identifiable information from visitors to our Sites unless it is provided to us voluntarily and knowingly. The personally identifiable information you submit will be used: (i) to carry out your requests and respond to your inquiries, and (ii) as otherwise disclosed at the point where such information is collected or in any additional terms and conditions applicable to the particular feature of our Sites. To accomplish this, we may share your personally identifiable information with third parties that perform functions on our behalf (or on behalf of our partners) or who have joined us in providing promotions and activities, such as companies (including retailers) or individuals that deliver packages, fulfill orders, participate in our promotions, administer our promotions, provide diet and nutrition information, provide marketing or promotional assistance, process credit card payments, analyze data or provide customer service, but such information will be shared only to the extent these third parties need such information to perform their functions.

Your personally identifiable information (except any credit card information provided) may also be used by us or shared with our subsidiaries and affiliates ("Dole Affiliates"). However, you will always have the opportunity to instruct us not to share your information with Dole Affiliates by contacting us at the address listed below.

We may also share your personally identifiable information with other companies that are not affiliated with Dole and are not business partners of Dole, but would like to provide you with additional products and/or services that we think may be of interest to you. However, your personally identifiable information will not be provided to these unaffiliated third parties without prior approval from you either through an "opt-in" choice at the point of collection or a response to a notification from Dole seeking approval to share your personally identifiable information with an unaffiliated third party. If you change your mind about the permission you have given through an "opt-in" choice, you may change your permission instructions by contacting us at the address provided below.

COOKIES

In addition to the non-personally identifiable information described above, we may also send you "cookies." Cookies are small text files from a website that are stored on your hard drive. These small text files make using a website more convenient by saving your passwords and preferences for you. Cookies themselves do not contain any personally identifiable information. We may analyze the information derived from these cookies and match such information with data provided by you or another party. We may provide our analysis and certain non-personally identifiable information to potential partners, advertisers (who may use this information to provide advertisements tailored to your interests) or other third parties, but we will not disclose any personally identifiable information, except as provided in this Privacy Policy.

You have the option of deciding whether or not to accept a cookie by resetting your browser to notify you whenever a cookie is being sent to your hard drive. You may also delete a cookie manually from your hard drive. Please note, however, that some parts of our Sites may not function properly or may be considerably slower if you refuse to accept a cookie or choose to disable your cookies settings.

FURTHER DISCLOSURE

We reserve the right to disclose any personally identifiable or non-personally identifiable information if we are required to do so by law or if we reasonably believe that such action is necessary in order to: (i) fulfill a government request; (ii) conform with the requirements of the law or to comply with legal process served on us; (iii) protect or defend the legal rights or property of Dole, Dole Affiliates, our Sites or its users; or (iv) in an emergency to protect the health and safety of our Sites' users or the general public.

CHILDREN UNDER 13

Some activities on our Sites are designed specifically for children, which are collected in clearly designated sections of the Sites ("Kids' Section"). We understand the concerns of parents regarding privacy, especially when it comes to protecting information collected from children, and we strongly encourage parents to supervise and participate in their children's online activities and consider using parental control tools available through online services and software. These tools help parents maintain an Internet environment appropriate for children.

Dole has developed Kids' Section of its Sites to be fun and educational - and safe - place for children to visit, and therefore, the Kids' Section of our Sites are operated in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") and supports the guidelines issued by the Council of Better Business Bureaus' Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU). We do not request children under the age of 13 to provide more personally identifiable information than is reasonably necessary to participate in an activity on our Sites. Whenever we collect personally identifiable information from children, we do so in compliance with the parental consent requirements of COPPA. This means that if we determine that a visitor is under the age of 13 (we may ask for the visitor's birth date or age to do this), the personally identifiable information provided will not be used or maintained without the consent of the child's parent or guardian. In certain circumstances, we may require children under the age of 13 to provide us with the contact information for their parent or legal guardian. We will use this information to (i) notify such parents or legal guardians of their children's participation in an activity on our Sites and of our privacy practices, and/or (ii) seek consent to their children's participation in an activity on our Sites. Without his/her parent's or legal guardian's permission, a child under the age of 13 may not be able to participate in certain activities.

For example, in a Kids' Section, we may provide a special e-mail address so that children can send messages to us or to one of our fruit or vegetable characters. A non-commercial, informational message may be sent back to the child. We do not and will not use or share your child's e-mail address for any purpose other than responding to the message your child has sent. The Kids' Section may contain a "chat room" where children can participate in a conversation with one of our fruit or vegetable characters. A "screen name" will be collected from your child to be used during the course of the chat session. This screen name is not personally identifiable to your child. Furthermore, the child is the only human participant in the chat session. The chat session is not open to other participants and the character's responses are provided by a software program. Once the child closes the chat session, the screen name is immediately deleted and is not stored or maintained in any way. Occasionally, we sponsor educational, recipe or other contests for children on our Sites. In order to enter the contest via our Sites, the child may be required to provide an e-mail and/or mailing address. Before allowing the child to participate in the contest, we will obtain the consent of his/her parent or legal guardian. This personal information is used solely to enable us to notify the contest winners and will not be used or shared for any other purpose.

The Kids' Section may offer visitors the opportunity to purchase products or educational materials. Although on-line ordering of products is available from sections of our Sites directed toward adult visitors, products or materials may not be ordered on-line directly from web pages directed toward children. However, mail-in order forms may be provided for printing out. Children who access the pages providing the opportunity to print out order forms are encouraged to obtain their parent's permission before disclosing any personal information or making a purchase decision.

We may also collect a child's name and e-mail address to the extent necessary, as required or permitted by law, to protect against liability or to protect the security of our Sites. Information collected for these reasons will not be used for any other purposes.

Dole does not currently give or sell any personally identifiable information collected from children under the age of 13 on our Sites to anyone, including affiliated companies. If we propose to share information with other parties, we will notify the child's parent or legal guardian and will state with whom we propose sharing information and why. The child's parent or legal guardian must consent to the disclosure of the child's personal information before it can be shared. Parents may consent to Dole's collection and use of their child's personal information without consenting to the disclosure of the information to third parties, including affiliated companies.

A parent or legal guardian can request that we remove, change or refuse further submission of information relating to a child under the age of 13 by sending an e-mail to dole_consumercenter@na.dole.com or by contacting us at the address listed below. Any such request must contain the child's name, address and e-mail address so we can locate such child's information.

OTHER SITES

Our Sites may contain links to other websites that we do not control or maintain. We are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by these other websites. We encourage you to note when you leave our Sites and to read the privacy statements of such other websites before submitting any personally identifiable information. In addition, our Sites may link to websites owned or operated by subsidiaries or companies affiliated with Dole ("Affiliated Sites"). Please note that the Affiliated Sites are subject to the privacy policies posted on those sites.

KEEPING YOUR INFORMATION SECURE

We have reasonable and appropriate electronic and physical security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. Please be advised, however, that while we strive to protect your personally identifiable information and privacy, we cannot guarantee or warrant the security of any information you disclose or transmit to us and cannot be responsible for the theft, destruction, or inadvertent disclosure of your personally identifiable information.

TRANSFER OF ASSETS

As we continue to develop our business, we may sell or purchase assets. If another entity acquires us or all or substantially all of our assets, personally identifiable information, non-personally identifiable information, and any other information that we have collected about the users of our Sites may be transferred to such entity as one of the transferred assets. Also, if any bankruptcy or reorganization proceeding is brought by or against us, all such information may be considered an asset of ours and as such may be sold or transferred to third parties.

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have questions or comments about our privacy practices, or if you wish to review, amend or delete any personally identifiable information you have provided or if you wish to modify the permission you have given us regarding use of your personally identifiable information, you can contact us at:

Dole Food Company, Inc.
One Dole Drive
Westlake Village, California 91362-7300
Attention: Consumer Center
Phone: 1-800-232-8888
E-mail: dole_consumercenter@na.dole.com