Whole Story

Thank you for your question. Our third party auditors verify that the standards are being met. To conduct the audit, the auditors do indeed use a more detailed checklist. The checklist is almost 30 pages long and audits can take from several days to a week. It’s a very thorough process.

Hmmm... http://www.barfblog.com/blog/138539/09/03/05/third-party-food-safety-audits-are-mail-order-diplomas Just a thought

because of this rating system, my friends and I feel so confident in what fish to buy and what is a concern. Everyone always asks so now they can see for themselves. Great job

Thank you, readers, for your support!

Thank you for writing in on this topic. Our standards require that feed is nutritionally complete and we prohibit a number of ingredients from being used in feed. For example, we do not allow farmed fish to be fed poultry or mammalian by-products. Corn is not a prohibited ingredient, however. It can be included in feed, although not all producers have it in their feed. Among those who do, it is still only one ingredient. Feed still must have other ingredients to provide the protein, vitamins, etc. that the fish require for health. For the detailed standards, please check out http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/aquaculture.php. Section 4 of the Finfish and Shrimp standards covers feed. (In the salmon standards, it’s section 3). Also, we discussed the topic of corn in a previous blog entry, in the context of tilapia. Please check out my response: http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2008/07/my-aquaculture-journey/#more-367.

Hi Larry. Actually, we haven’t left this out at all. Please download our detailed standards http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/aquaculture.php. and check out section 5 of our Finfish and Shrimp standards (or Section 4 in the salmon standards) You can see our specific targets for PCB levels. These targets are based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Guidance for Assessing Chemical Contaminant Data. Whole Foods Market has chosen to use the EPA’s standards for seafood because they are the most protective standards available for human health.

Wow, this is great! I have cut my fish consumption to almost zero over fear for our oceans and possible contamination caused by farming. As usual, Whole Foods is leading by example. Thanks!

Hi Jason, the third party auditors we use are from <a href="http://www.imo.ch" rel="nofollow">Institute for Marketecology (IMO)</a>. They work in about 90 countries and in addition certifying aquaculture operations, they are also certifiers of timber and organic products, as well as products from social responsibility and fair trade programs.

Thanks for sharing your concerns, Dan. Actually, we are working to source salmon from inland farms. And we have a farm going through the audit process right now. However, as you point out, inland salmon farming is still quite rare so we also source from net pen farms to meet our customers’ desire for farmed salmon. We certainly could have chosen not to sell it at all, but we took a different direction. Instead of ignoring the problems in the industry, we decided that we would work to change them by developing an extensive set of strict standards for farmed salmon production and by providing a market for producers who can meet them. This wasn’t a simple undertaking. For a full year, we conducted extensive research on the farmed salmon industry, including review of all the best available science, consultation with the top environmental organizations, and visits to salmon farms worldwide. We analyzed the issues associated with farmed salmon production in great depth, including the use of marine resources in feed, impacts on predator populations and risks associated with escaped fish, pollution, and disease. Our farmed salmon standards reflect this research. Our feed standards, for example, prohibit antibiotics, hormones, melamine, and parasiticides. And to protect other animals in the ecosystem, we do not allow the use of lethal or harmful methods to control avian and marine mammal predators. We also have detailed protocols in place to prevent the escape of farmed fish into the wild. These are only a few examples, but hopefully give you an idea of the solutions we have created with this project. While these standards certainly move salmon farming forward environmentally and provide shoppers with an alternative to conventionally farmed salmon, we will continue to update and improve our standards as new information and better farming methods become available.

i am so tired of buying fruit on "sale" at wholefoods (but regular prices at other stores)and having it look great but is OLD and mealy and tastes terrible. I waste TOO MUCH money because i throw away my receipts (hoping that optimistically i will be able to eat this fruit) so i have no recourse. UGH. help me never come to your store again.

I am really glad that Whole Foods is taking the steps in the right direction of sustainable fish farming. I am also glad because it sets the standard for others to follow.

The new logo is a good clean layout that tells the story that Whole Foods needs to get across to their customers. It is a very good use of 2 colors that is easy to reproduce and will stay clean no matter what format it is reproduced in.