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EXHIBIT 31.2

CERTIFICATIONS

I, Richard J. Dahl, Senior Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer, certify that:



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| | 1. | I have reviewed this annual report on
    Form 10-K of Dole Food Company, Inc.;                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
|
| | 2. | Based on my knowledge, this report does not
    contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state
    a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light
    of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not
    misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
|
| | 3. | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements,
    and other financial information included in this report, fairly
    present in all material respects the financial condition,
    results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of,
    and for, the periods presented in this report;                   
|
| | 4. | The registrants other certifying officer
    and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining
    disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act
    Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:                                                                                   



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| | (a) Designed such disclosure controls and
    procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to
    be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material
    information relating to the registrant, including its
    consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within
    those entities, particularly during the period in which this
    report is being prepared;         
|
| | (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the
    registrants disclosure controls and procedures and
    presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness
    of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the
    period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and                                                                                                            
|
| | (c) Disclosed in this report any change in
    the registrants internal control over financial reporting
    that occurred during the registrants most recent fiscal
    quarter (the registrants fourth fiscal quarter in the case
    of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is
    reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrants
    internal control over financial reporting; and



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| | 5. | The registrants other certifying officer
    and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of
    internal control over financial reporting, to the
    registrants auditors and the audit committee of the
    registrants board of directors (or persons performing the
    equivalent functions):



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| | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | (a) All significant deficiencies and
    material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal
    control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to
    adversely affect the registrants ability to record,
    process, summarize and report financial information; and
|
| | (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that
    involves management or other employees who have a significant
    role in the registrants internal control over financial
    reporting.                                                                                                   



| |                                                      
| | -----------------------------------------------------
| | /s/ RICHARD J. DAHL                                  
| |                                                      
| | Richard J. Dahl                                      
| | Senior Vice President and Chief Financial
    Officer

March 17, 2004