If you haven’t strolled down the pet food aisle lately, you may not know that we’ve expanded our private label line of pet foods. We continue to offer our 365 Everyday Value™ pet foods for a quality human-grade pet food at a value price and have added 365 Everyday Value™ Holistic pet foods for well-rounded nutrition without the use of by-products.

Think all pet foods are the same? Think again. Pet food is divided into two separate categories: human and non-human grade. All of our 365 Everyday Value™ pet food products are human grade. Human grade pet foods are processed according to the same manufacturing standards as human foods and they contain ingredients that are free from contamination, disease or adulteration. This means that the meat sources used in our products, including any by-products, are NOT from animals that have been rejected for human consumption. The ingredients are inspected with the same care as if they were to be sold as human food.

Our pet food brands offer choice and affordability: the original 365 Everyday Value pet food provides a safe, human grade product that meets pets’ nutritional needs at a great value. By using human grade by-products, we can provide a safe meat and protein source for your pets at an affordable price.

Our Holistic selections are made without the use of by-products. Every ingredient used in our Holistic pet food is carefully selected to provide nourishment to the whole pet. Whether it’s oatmeal (promoting a healthy digestive system) or Menhaden Fish Oil (an excellent source of Omega 3 fatty acid), each ingredient in the Holistic pet formula supports important system functions and dietary needs. Additionally, our 365 Everyday Value™ Holistic food is baked and not extruded. Baking is done at lower temperatures over a longer period of time, which maintains the integrity and quality of the ingredients.

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Every week I see dozens of myths and misunderstandings about food and our company come across my desk, confused thoughts ranging from “Everything Whole Foods sells is organic” to “Canola oil is a secret poison” to “Whole Foods Market is owned by Paul Newman.” This is the first in a series of posts aimed at sharing - and clearing up - some of the more popular misunderstandings floating around out there. Through these examples, I’d like to illustrate the lengths we go to “do the homework” about natural foods and to make sure that there’s nothing in our products that you’d be surprised to find there. If you have any particular questions or topics you want to see covered, post a comment down below and let me know what you want to hear about.

Who we are and what we do

Look around near the doors of any one of our stores and you’ll likely find our commitment to “Selling the Highest Quality Natural and Organic Products Available” painted directly on the wall. This promise, the first of our company’s core values, seems simple at first glance, but becomes complicated once you start to consider the words “natural” and “organic” and what they really mean. I’ll save “organic” for another post, but what does “natural” mean, and who decides? Well, we do, and we take the job very seriously.

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This past Wednesday, Whole Foods Market launched our enhanced aquaculture standards — standout stuff for the industry. Our seafood quality standards team spent the last couple of years researching and investigating all of the issues surrounding farmed fish. They worked with the fish farmers as well as environmental groups and scientists to develop the very best standards out there. In this podcast, I talk to Carrie Brownstein, our Seafood Quality Standards Coordinator, and David Pilat, our Global Seafood Coordinator, to find out all of the scoop on these standards.

 Aquaculture Standards: Play Now | Download (377)

I am at the new Whole Foods Market store in Tribeca, NYC perusing the seafood counter on a most exciting day. Today we launched our new quality standards for farmed seafood at Whole Foods Market, a culmination of two years work to set the bar high for aquaculture practices worldwide. I watch as an inquisitive customer reads through our brochure detailing the key highlights of the new standards while the team member wraps up her salmon. Her eyes shift from the brochure to the salmon in the case. “Does this salmon that I’m buying come from this farm, pictured here in this brochure? Does it meet your standards?” she asks the team member. “It sure does,” he replies proudly to the customer’s delight, “all of our farmed seafood will need to meet our standards and be approved through an independent third party audit.” “That’s so cool,” she declares, and away she goes, pulled by the hand by an impatient toddler.

As I scan the seafood case, I see fish from many of the farms that I’ve visited over the last two years-salmon from Norway, trout and catfish from North Carolina, shrimp from Vietnam, and Arctic char from Iceland, to name only a few. It’s been a stimulating and inspiring process developing these standards. Learning about the problems and finding solutions-my favorite kind of work. Speaking with scientists, environmentalists, and producers, I investigated every issue related to aquaculture: feed, predator control, water quality, chemical use, environmental contaminants, siting, traceability, etc. With the best available science, I armed myself with all the information. Then I went into the field. I visited hatcheries, farms, feed mills, and processing plants to get a closer look at how farmed fish are produced and to really understand what producers are doing, and not doing.

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I just visited Ron Cottle, one of the better conventional and “emerging organic” growers (and long-time vendor/partner with Whole Foods Market) in Eastern North Carolina and took a bunch of pictures to share. He is just about wrapped-up with organic and conventional blueberries and is just now starting his blackberry harvest (they’re awesome!), and in about 8 to 10 days will be full-speed ahead with his organic grape tomatoes.

This block of about 10 contiguous acres just came to full organic certification this season, and he’s pretty excited about it. Read the rest of this entry »

With gas prices averaging over $4 a gallon and other economic challenges causing many to talk about belt tightening, Whole Foods Market wanted to create a way for you to share tips with each other about smart shopping. We know that you make decisions every day about how to stretch your grocery dollar so you don’t have to trade quality for value. So, we’ve set up a page called “The Whole Deal™ where you can swap budget tips with like-minded Whole Foods Market customers and team members.

Sure, we know that some people are going to choose to cut back on their shopping with us. And we also know there are many thrifty folks who are committed to natural and organic foods and who will gladly share their insight from years of experience.

Once a week, we’ll choose the best of the best customer tips from all of the comments on The Whole Deal™ to feature on Whole Story - and we’ll send those customers a $25 gift card.

To get us started, here’s a great tip from Rachael, a long-time team member. (Don’t you know that our team members are going to have some great tips to share?!)

Plan your meals ahead of time, make a shopping list and stick to it. That way you avoid expensive impulse buys. I try to allow myself one special treat when I do a big shopping trip - some fancy cheese, a special bottle of wine, or a nice body care product, but I decide ahead of time what I am going to buy so I don’t get carried away or faint from sticker shock at the checkout. There are great deals on staple items at Whole Foods Market, but it’s usually those super-unique and irresistible items that make the grocery bill high - so, as difficult as it may be, use your will power! — Rachael, Team Member

Okay, now it’s your turn. Please post your tip on The Whole Deal™.