Whole Foods Market, Inc. may not be the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) favorite food and grocery retailer currently, but the natural grocery chain is at the top of environmental group Greenpeace's retailer hit parade, at least when it comes to seafood sustainability.
Greenpeace has named Whole Foods Market [WFMI] the number one retailer in the United States in seafood sustainability for its program of selling sustainably harvested seafood in its stores.
The newest Greenpeace report scoring retailers on the environmental responsibility of their seafood selections singles out Whole Foods Market's new quality standards for aquaculture, (farmed seafood), which have made the natural products retail chain a leader in the industry, as one of the factors in their higher score, the global environmental organization said today.
Greenpeace evaluates and ranks the major U.S. food and grocery retailers on their seafood sustainability practices, then chooses the company it believes not only has the best practice but also is engaged in continuous improvement in regard to its seafood sustainability program and merchandising.
Greenpeace has named Whole Foods Market [WFMI] the number one retailer in the United States in seafood sustainability for its program of selling sustainably harvested seafood in its stores.
The newest Greenpeace report scoring retailers on the environmental responsibility of their seafood selections singles out Whole Foods Market's new quality standards for aquaculture, (farmed seafood), which have made the natural products retail chain a leader in the industry, as one of the factors in their higher score, the global environmental organization said today.
Greenpeace evaluates and ranks the major U.S. food and grocery retailers on their seafood sustainability practices, then chooses the company it believes not only has the best practice but also is engaged in continuous improvement in regard to its seafood sustainability program and merchandising.
Whole Foods was one of only (number 1) four U.S. grocery chains (Greenpeace ranked the top 20 U.S. chains) that passed the environmental organization's sustainability test. The other three chains are, in order of their scores or ranking:
2. Ahold USA, which operates the Giant Food and Stop & Shop supermarket chains.
3. Target, which only sells fresh seafood in its Super Target combination supermarket-general merchandise Supercenters.
4. Harris Teeter (supermarket chain).
The other 16 top U.S. chains failed Greenpeace's evaluative criteria. Those 16 are, ranked from best (which means they barely failed) to worst:
5. Wal-Mart
6. Safeway (Dominick's, Genuardi's, Randall's, Von's)
7. Wegmans
8. Kroger (Baker's, City Market, Dillon's, Owen's, PayLess, Ralph's,Scott's, Smith's, Quality Food Center)
9. Aldi
10. Costco
11. A&P (Food Emporium, Pathmark, Super Fresh, Waldbaum's)
12. Giant Eagle
13. Publix
14. Winn-Dixie
15. Delhaize (Bloom, Food Lion, Hannaford Bros., Sweetbay)
16. Supervalu (Acme, Albertson's, Bristol Farms, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's)
17. Trader Joe's
18. Meijer
19. H. E. Butt (H.E.B., Central Market)
20. Price Chopper
Wal-Mart, Safeway and Wegmans (5,6 and 7) came close to passing the Greenpeace evaluation (bairly failing). Kroger, Aldi and Costco (8, 9 and 10) have a ways to go, according to Greenpeace, but could move up dramatically with improved sustainability practices. The other ten have lots of work to do in terms of harvested seafood sustainability, particularly the bottom five (16-20) chains.
Wal-Mart's nearly making the sustainable seafood A-list is interesting, and appears to us to be a reflection of the mega-retailer's increased emphasis on sustainability and "green" retailing.
"We are proud to be recognized for our efforts as we go to great lengths to ensure these products meet our high standards for quality, safety, sustainability and culinary excellence," Margaret Wittenberg, Whole Foods Market's global vice president of quality standards and public affairs said today after being told Greenpeace chose the natural grocery chain as its top retailer for seafood sustainability. "We have done more than any other retailer when it comes to sourcing and promoting environmentally responsible, quality seafood, and we will continue to evaluate all species of seafood we sell to ensure we are doing our part to care for our planet and its tenants."
Whittenberg also announced today Whole Foods Market is now embarking on a process for further enhancing its quality standards for wild-caught species similar to its quality standards project for aquaculture, and will include creating sourcing guidelines for wild-capture fisheries not already certified by the Marine Stewardship Council. This is a practice Greenpeace has been encouraging retailers to adopt, along with their sustainability programs for harvested seafood.
After hearing Whole Foods announcement, Greenpeace issued a statement today congratulating Whole Foods on adopting the stronger sustainability standards for wild-caught seafood.
"Whole Foods Market is making significant strides in improving its seafood sustainability, and Greenpeace expects Whole Foods' wild-caught Quality Standards will be as thorough as its Aquaculture Standards," Greenpeace said.
Whittenberg also announced today Whole Foods Market is now embarking on a process for further enhancing its quality standards for wild-caught species similar to its quality standards project for aquaculture, and will include creating sourcing guidelines for wild-capture fisheries not already certified by the Marine Stewardship Council. This is a practice Greenpeace has been encouraging retailers to adopt, along with their sustainability programs for harvested seafood.
After hearing Whole Foods announcement, Greenpeace issued a statement today congratulating Whole Foods on adopting the stronger sustainability standards for wild-caught seafood.
"Whole Foods Market is making significant strides in improving its seafood sustainability, and Greenpeace expects Whole Foods' wild-caught Quality Standards will be as thorough as its Aquaculture Standards," Greenpeace said.
In June of this year, Greenpeace first ranked the top 20 chains. All 20, including Whole Foods Market, flunked that review.
The new review, which ranked Whole foods number one and included the other three chains, took into account what Greenpeace says are some "small but significant changes" in some of the retailer's sustainability policies. In other words it's sort of a redo, taking effort and improvement into account this time around.
Whole Foods, which operates 275 stores in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom and had 2008 sales of $8 billion, made the "most significant" improvements, landing it in first place, according to Greenpeace.
Whole Foods, which operates 275 stores in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom and had 2008 sales of $8 billion, made the "most significant" improvements, landing it in first place, according to Greenpeace.
Speaking of improvements, it appears 16 of the top 20 chains have nowhere to go but up when it comes to seafood sustainability.
Whole Foods Market, Inc. also was named "America's Healthiest Grocery Store" this year by Health Magazine, which each year picks "the healthiest" in a variety of business categories like grocery stores, restaurants and more.
Whole Foods might be a "premium organic retailing segment" monopolist in about 29 U.S. markets, if one buys the FTC's argument, which as we written we don't. However, it appears it's a very sustainable and health-oriented retailer when it comes to the foods and other products it monopolizes those respective market places with. That certainly should count for something.
Whole Foods Market, Inc. also was named "America's Healthiest Grocery Store" this year by Health Magazine, which each year picks "the healthiest" in a variety of business categories like grocery stores, restaurants and more.
Whole Foods might be a "premium organic retailing segment" monopolist in about 29 U.S. markets, if one buys the FTC's argument, which as we written we don't. However, it appears it's a very sustainable and health-oriented retailer when it comes to the foods and other products it monopolizes those respective market places with. That certainly should count for something.
The full Greenpeace top 20 retailer seafood sustainability report along with additional details is available at: http://www.greenpeace.org/seafood
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