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Does anyone know about Whole Foods & China products
Started
by Charrissa Wright
on September 19, 2010
I am new here...and in transistion through the help of the Kind Diet! and everyone here....so I am doing some research today and POOF! or I should say SLAP! I read about a bunch of Whole Foods products coming from CHINA? I am sickened over this!!! There are no Trader Joe's here in South Florida -Who wants to open one with me hehee.....and Whole Foods is about the best place around....HELP!
What exactly are your concerns? Whole Foods as a company is very transparent in all they do. Any product that is labeled organic has to meet USDA standards, not the country of origin's organic standards (and by the way - the USDA isn't the end all and be all of organic standards, either, as more companies try to get their hand in the honey pot, the USDA is under pressure to lower organic standards). Whole Foods has their own internal auditing practices in place as well as third party audits and I believe both take place annually. They clearly label country of origin so customers can make informed choices.
The U.S. is not transparent as a whole, just do some research and you will find that your food as a whole may not be as safe as you think it is, so that is something to take into consideration. As customer demands for organic increase, outside sources have to be found, because our government does not very actively support the expansion of sustainable and organic agricultural practices. Just something to think about.
If you really want more answers, Whole Foods has people who can answer them. While they might not be perfect, they are a hell of a long way ahead of every other large grocery retailer. Their success has influenced other gorcers to change and improve their practices, and I think that alone makes them an admirable company.
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/sourcing.php
I went on to the Whole Foods Market website, I would consider that the source and that is where I saw the information being posted about the China products...I understand the supply & demand scenerio...I just think buying food from China is NOT a good idea...I would have never thought!
I love Whole Foods...and it is the best store around, but that is a pretty scary thing to read about....
I am still doing some research and going to be extra cautious about reading the labels...
thanks! :)
But why do you not think it's a good idea to buy from China? A lot of people feel that way about Mexico, as well. That is why many people who feel strongly about importing from certain countries for various reasons (supervisory, environmental, etc) only buy local. And depending on where you live, some places have a variety of fresh, local produce, but it is never going to be the selection that you will get if you don't buy locally, so you have to accept that if that is how you choose, you just can't eat qwhatever you want whenever you want it because it might not be in season or might not be a local crop. If you are looking at frozen veggies, many of them are going to come from China, but you can also find some that come from California. No matter where you shop, you should always read labels.
Thanks Hazel...I read the link you posted...I am newer to all of this in my journey! I still love Whole Foods...here in South Florida there isn't much else to chose from....I just will be cautious about labels and where things come from....I have to put my faith in that Whole Foods is bringing us high quality foods with strict standards, no matter where they are coming from...
I wish that we wouldn't buy food from outside of our country....I certainly would rather support USA grown crop.....
Thanks for your help! :)
I don't know why you think the limb would be chopped off, Diane. It certainly makes sense to buy local where you can, but there are also a lot of obstacles to that. Consumers as a whole need to demand higher standards for U.S.-made products, and create more of a demand overall . Everyone's greed to make things as cheaply as possible had put us in a bind with so many companies outsourcing and ones that don't often not using high-quality goods. That's actually part of the point here, because our government hasn't been more concerned with creating strong American business owners, we don't have the local options we should have (and by local in this sense, I mean just made or grown in our own country).
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