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Is it the name? I just can't seem to figure that out. I haven't stepped foot in one for quite some time, since I disagree with their practices and have a few choice words about their CEO, but hear people raving about the healthy stuff they sell all the time.
I remember when I took my now husband there for the first time 4 years ago, and he was wondering why all these healthy people are so huge. I told him it's because when you're eating WF products, you can apparently eat 12 servings, and based on how people were piling it up at the buffet there, I think they agreed. A cookie is a cookie, organic or not. Nothing healthy about it! The one in my area sells Chinese food. Fried orange chicken and such, but it must be healthy because it's from WF, right? The buffet items are dripping with butter and everything is in a creamy sauce. It's disgusting and no better than going through the drive-thru.
There is nothing local about it either. Every WF I've ever been to had bananas, enough said. I remember going to the one near my house in the past, and only 4 produce products were actually local, though they make it seem like the entire store is.
And, their frozen, "organic" vegetables are imported from China. Would you trust China to make a determination as to whether your food was organic or not? Next time you're there, turn over some of the organic, frozen veggie packs...it will say that it's made in China. Same goes for some other products.
So, what's the appeal to this corporation? I live in San Diego, where we have fresh fruits and vegetables year round. Yet WF does not buy from these local farmers, but some corporation to save money. Not very community oriented, if you ask me.
Check out this video. It's an investigation done to their Chinese imports. As you can imagine, WF was not happy about it .
Whole Foods store should be fined for misleading consumers.
Just like Whole Foods, other grocery store chains are also misleading consumers.
All the store has to do is hike up the price, & place the word "organic" on it & the average consumer will not think about flipping over the product to read the fine print because most of the time, we're always in a hurry.
That's why my mom always said to me "Read the fine Print" & now I realize that's also useful when purchasing food.
The funny thing is, they sell some products that regular stores sell. Cheerios, same brands of baby food, condiments, etc. at 3x the cost and people buy it! I can't imagine spending $7 on a box of Cheerios, but that's just me!
Organic is such a loose term and anyone can get certified, just pay up to the USDA. Take organic milk for example. I know a dairy farmer, and he was telling me that people seem to think that all they do is walk around, shooting the cows up with antibiotics! That is not the case. He said unless absolutely necessary (the cow is sick) they do not use them. The organic industry wants you to think they do.
Trader Joe's sells milk that's not certified organic, but comes from cows not treated with hormones or antibiotics. They just can't get the certification, but it's essentially the same as organic, at $2.49 a box! Why pay $5 for a box of Horizon when you can get the same stuff at Trader Joe's for much less??
Agree with maciesmom.
But WF does offer a lot more organic options which I appreciate. It is up to the customer to do their own due diligence about the source of the food.
Bottom line, the farmer's market is always going to be your best option.
Oh, here's my favorite WF story! Before I found the local butcher that offers grass-fed meat, I went to WF. I asked the butcher if the skirt steak is grass or corn fed. His response? "Whole Foods cows don't eat grains, they eat oats." Um, last I checked, oats are grains.... Very few of their meat items are actually grass-fed, which is a shame given the really high cost of meat there.
Skchi, usually there is a label that says USDA approved or something on the back, which means it is from the USA. Sometimes, you can find an address. The ones I saw at WF just said Made in China, which was very clear and easy to spot.
I see a lot of "manufactured for/distributed by" labels on foods at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and other grocery stores. But they don't actually say where the manufacturing took place.
I can't wait until summer. We have a couple of farmer's markets here in the summer, and a beef farm always shows up with a cooler full of meat. Unfortunately, we don't have the markets in the winter, spring, or fall.
Like anything else you have to use discretion. Read labels and determine if there is any true health benefit to what you're buying. Ask questions if you aren't sure. I shop there for certain items, but I'm not totally sold on organic and I use general rules of thumb when grocery shopping. If it's loaded with preservatives and bunches of ingredients that I can't pronounce, I pass. Corn Syrup and other sugars that end in "ose" I tend to pass on as well depending on what it is. I like sugar in my pastries, not in my tomato sauce. Today we eat way too many processed and packaged food products. Bottom line, if it wasn't food 100 years ago, it's not food today.
Our pick of nice fruits and veggies can be a little scarce in the desert during different times of the year. I recently started to grow my own garden and can't wait for my tomatoes and peppers to come in. I shop at Whole Foods for very few things. Organic grapes are #1 on my list there. Non-organic grapes are coated in pesticides that make my mouth tingle and burn. I do pay more, but don't enjoy grapes otherwise. Also, at the Whole Foods I venture too, the local produce is clearly labeled with a notation as to where it came from. A lot of other local products are noted too (like hummus, pita chips, etc). I do enjoy buying these products when I can afford it and tend to enjoy it more than rummaging through produce at a farmer's market where everyone has picked over what they want already. I buy my organic apples at Costco for half of what WF charges.
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