IMPORTANT! JUST BECAUSE YOU SIGN THIS PETITION DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOUR SIGNATURE WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY SENT TO WHOLE FOODS - IT WON'T! YOU MUST FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS BELOW FOR YOUR SIGNATURE AND LETTER TO GET SENT TO THEM. THANK YOU! :)

 

ABC 7 I-Team report: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=JQ31Ljd9T_Y   This video may be from 2008, but Whole Foods still sells food that was produced in China. Just the other day, I bought pine nuts at Whole Foods. Today, I looked at the back of the package, and indeed, it says "PRODUCT OF CHINA."

Whole Foods Market response: http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/whole-foods-market-responds-to-wjla/

As one of the leading markets selling the highest quality natural and organic products, for many reasons it is imperative that Whole Foods entirely discontinues sourcing any of its products from China. With the countless Chinese food and product recalls that have occurred in the United States in the recent past, Americans simply cannot afford to consume any more products from China. Furthermore, we want our food sourced locally and organically grown within the United States. Products from China have an even bigger carbon footprint because they are transported from thousands of miles away. Eaters worldwide want Whole Foods Market to support smaller organic certification groups, such as CCOF, in addition to Quality Assurance International and the USDA. We want Whole Foods to work with more organic farming organizations, such as EcoFarm, and source its products from smaller, organic family farms. Whole Foods customers want Whole Foods Market to support family farmers who are the 99% because, as Willie Nelson so clearly explains, it's time to Occupy the Food System.

We implore Whole Foods Market to stop sourcing products from China immediately. While we do wholeheartedly thank Whole Foods for its committment to organic and natural foods, we hope that Whole Foods kindly considers what its customers are asking.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to obtain any individual emails from the Whole Foods Market’s leadership team or regional/national offices. Therefore, the petition letter and your signature will not be emailed directly to Whole Foods. You will need to do this yourself but don’t worry, it only takes a couple of minutes! Follow the directions below:

1) Click on this Customer Service link: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company/service.php

2) Under CONTACT US VIA EMAIL, choose the “Quality Standards” topic and then click next. Under “Comments for Global Headquarters,” copy and paste the petition letter or write your own letter.

3) Call your local store directly. Tell them that you are a concerned eater and want Whole Foods to stop sourcing its products from China immediately. Ask them to please pass your message on to the Whole Foods Global Headquarters. Remember to thank them.

This is the response I received from Whole Foods Global Headquarters:

Hello Chiara,

Thank you for your concerns. As of the summer of 2010, we are no longer sourcing any of our Whole Foods Market 365 Everyday Value frozen vegetables from China EXCEPT for frozen edamame (shelled and unshelled, organic and conventional). We want to be clear that we didn’t stop sourcing from China because of quality or food safety concerns. Our move to other sources is a business decision. We were simply able to find several suppliers in other countries, including the U.S., that offered the same or better quality at better prices. We are still selling bulk products and branded products that may come from China.

 We have always had great confidence in our vendor partners in China, and we have taken great steps to verify that those suppliers have the same level of integrity and commitment to quality as the rest of our partners across the world. If you are interested in learning more, please visit: http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2008/06/is-organic-from-china-possible/

If you have any further questions please use our on-line response form.

Best regards, 

Julie 

Julie Campbell | Whole Foods Market | 550 Bowie Street | Austin, Texas 78703