The Major Banana Scandal That Will Always Haunt Aldi
Aldi, the popular discount grocery chain known for its budget-friendly prices and no-frills approach, found itself at the center of an unusual and alarming scandal in April 2019. In perhaps one of the most surprising incidents in the company's history, six shipments of bananas sent to Aldi locations across northern Germany were revealed to contain massive amounts of cocaine. In total, the contraband, valued at an estimated €25 million (around $28 million), weighed in at nearly half a ton. Employees at an Aldi logistics center in the German town of Jarmen also located cocaine in a banana shipment. Authorities believed the drugs hidden within the banana crates were Latin American in origin.
At the time, Aldi's German division shared with CNN that the chain was "affected by the incident" but did not elaborate further. This illicit discovery was one of the most bizarre scandals in Aldi's long history, though the chain has weathered its fair share of controversies and failures over the years. In fact, April 2019 was not the first instance of Aldi finding contraband in its incoming shipments.
Is this a regular occurrence?
In 2018, authorities discovered 109 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a shipment of pineapples at an Aldi store in Valluhn, Germany, and in 2017 and again in 2018, grocery stores in Leverkusen and Hamburg, respectively, found large amounts of cocaine in fruit crates.
All the way back in 2015, Aldi stores across Berlin were victim to two cocaine-smuggling events involving fruit crates. In January of that year, 5 million pounds' worth of cocaine was discovered inside of banana crates in Hamburg. This cycle repeated just a few months later in May, only this time, the estimated value of the cocaine — discovered in fruit containers across Berlin — was approximately €15 million.
Speaking of big grocery store scandals, illegal drug smuggling seems to be a global issue. In 2019, cocaine was uncovered in a banana shipment sent to Safeway locations across Washington state. With so many similar incidents occurring over the past decade, you might want to look carefully the next time you visit the produce section.