View Full Version : Looks like Whole Foods sells GMOs
http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=484FC93C887B206A895A116C0A3469E3
I don't shop at Whole Foods for multiple reasons as it is. Nothing would surprise me.
Well, I thought it might be worth it but money changed how they do business so I'm moving on.
Gingerella72
10-8-12, 3:19pm
Just like with any food store, you still have to read labels. They still have the largest variety of organic foods available than any large grocery chain, and if one were within driving distance of me I would definitely shop there because organic is so hard to find where I live.
ApatheticNoMore
10-8-12, 3:33pm
Yes WF is a mixed bag. There's always a lot of sneering about them but when there was a thread on where people got their meat, dozens of people had coops nearby (they aren't here), half the people were getting it from farms. I mean people just seemed priviledged out the wazoo, I'd love to have all those sources, hard to believe, but I don't so I'll take all that with a grain of salt. I'd have to go to two different farmer's markets just to get meat and chicken (not always on weekends or anytime convenient either). Sometimes ambitious, often I'm just tired and surviving. WF does have a lot of selection of organics and other things. There seems to be a lot of mainstream sources coming out against the GMO labeling lately, it's sad, I hope it still passes.
In all fairness , this is the WF response. It sounds to me like their house brand, I'm assuming the 365 brand, is GMO free. I have some smaller issues with WF, but they treat their employees well and are well above the big brand super market chains in trying to do things right. GMO products are so common these days that I don't think you can just walk into a health food type store and expect GMO free products. Some of the responsibility lies with the consumer.
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/lets-talk-about-gmos-whole-foods-market
We have the Natural Grocers chain near us, and we like to use that more often than Whole Foods. I wish Whole Foods were taking a more aggressive stance in favor of labeling. It made me sad when I first read that. (see http://worldtruth.tv/usda-forces-whole-foods-to-accept-monsanto/ ) But will it stop me from shopping there? No, probably not. We don't contribute a lot to their bottom line anyway. And we're avid label-readers, tending to interpret the absence of "non-genetically-modified" on the label as "don't eat me."
Tussiemussies
10-8-12, 9:22pm
Yes, on Facebook I liked Occupy Monsanto and everyday get updates on the GMO situation. Whole Foods and Wallmart are selling GMO's along with grocery stores. The bad part is that anything that uses corn in it in any form is tainted so many foods are involed. Occupy Monsanto is making a big push for people to grow their own food. A lot of homesteaders are canning a lot just to feed their families healthy food. I am sure GMOs is just one reason though, pesticides being another big factor...
ApatheticNoMore
10-8-12, 10:16pm
Occupy Monsanto is making a big push for people to grow their own food.
It good if one can do so but as general advice for everyone, it seems profoundly impractical. In terms of time and money. I can't buy the land, not here, I'm too much the 99% and not enough the 1% I think (nor would I want to put every dime I've ever accumulated into property and still have hefty monthly payments). And then it's a difinite time commitment. The actual infrastructure to make it widespread doesn't exist (there are simply not enough community gardens for all the people who don't own land and want to garden - demand there far outstrips supply). And the futher away any land you are growing is from your home the less likely you are to actually attend to it. I think this is just an exhaustion and a practical matter. I mean yes if the neighbor on the corner lets you grow on their land then maybe, but even the land swapping thing breaks down with distance.
That's why community gardens are such a good idea, as well as gardening vacant lots and unused corners of other peoples' lots, as they do in Detroit and lots of other cities. It is worth it to me to seek out and use these options, because honestly, Big Ag owns the food supply and is pumping it full of things that will kill us, and even most food producers are in complete denial about whether the stuff they spray on their peaches might kill me in 20 years. The only way around this is to either buy organic, buy from a producer I know, or grow it myself. I do a mix of these. I'll go down kicking and screaming; I have too much to do in this life to cut it short through someone else's negligence and self-centeredness.
There are a lot of people who do not find it worthwhile to do what it takes to grow their own, and that's fine. But I see the whole food chain as contaminated, and so it's worth it for me to live where I can do it.
Tussiemussies
10-8-12, 11:18pm
I agree with you pug logic, the whole food chain is contaminated due to the animals eating GMO grown feed.
People did make a way to have gardens when Victory Gardens were called for. I think people need a wake up call and to stop buying into false things being put out there by Monsanto. Quite a lot of European countries have banned GMOs.
SteveinMN
10-8-12, 11:26pm
Big Ag owns the food supply and is pumping it full of things that will kill us, and even most food producers are in complete denial about whether the stuff they spray on their peaches might kill me in 20 years. The only way around this is to either buy organic, buy from a producer I know, or grow it myself. I do a mix of these. I'll go down kicking and screaming; I have too much to do in this life to cut it short through someone else's negligence and self-centeredness.
Several years ago, one of the local medical schools or the state epidemiology department or somesuch studied a surprisingly-high incidence of a particular cancer here in Minnesota (I can't find the specifics at the moment before this forum times me out). They followed these people for a few years and finally figured out that the higher incidence of illness came from exposure as kids when they were playing in a pile of rock (taconite?) from a nearby processing facility. It's rock they mined from the ground which was refined for lower-grade steel, so it was all around them anyway. Yet somehow the concentration of minerals in the discarded rock or some processing element was enough to trigger increased instances of illness decades down the line. I'll have to look for the details on this.
My point, though, is that while we've identified many carcinogens and hazardous substances and regulate many of them, there is no way we have identified everything we're exposed to now that will sicken or kill us in 20 years. While I strongly prefer not to buy GMOs (our co-op will not stock products made with GMOs) and I do avoid other substances like cleaning fluids, cigarette smoke, etc., and while I applaud your efforts in this area, puglogic, we have no idea what we're exposed to today (or using as a preventive) that will cause great damage years down the line. Look at BPA. It was created originally to ward off the negative effects of corrosion in canned vegetables, which we knew was bad. Who knew BPA would turn out be a possible source of illness itself?
I understand your point, Steve. Of course there will be toxins out there that we can't control or don't yet know about, and there's all that gray area -- everything from pharmaceuticals to household cleaners to heaven-knows-what. But that doesn't keep me from acting to avoid the toxins I *DO* know about, or the things I just have a strong intuition are damaging to my immune system.
Of course it helps that I like growing things to eat. If I hated it, or it required too big a lifestyle shift, I'd figure something else out, as ANM has done. Getting back to xmac's post, I can't force Whole Foods to play, but I would like to have GMO's labeled so I can make the choice. I don't think that's too much to ask.
Getting back to xmac's post, I can't force Whole Foods to play, but I would like to have GMO's labeled so I can make the choice. I don't think that's too much to ask.
I agree with that 100%. I appreciate that our co-op has just said 'no'. But in a place that sells GMO products, it's fair to label.
I agree with you pug logic, the whole food chain is contaminated due to the animals eating GMO grown feed.
People did make a way to have gardens when Victory Gardens were called for. I think people need a wake up call and to stop buying into false things being put out there by Monsanto. Quite a lot of European countries have banned GMOs.
Tussies, have you seen this:
http://www.cornucopia.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/prop37-poster3.jpeg
Sad that so many brands I used to support are on the wrong side of this equation, being owned by huge corporations. And looking at the numbers at the bottom of that column....scary, hm?
But not at all surprising to see Monsanto at the top of the donor list on the left.
Yes, on Facebook I liked Occupy Monsanto and everyday get updates on the GMO situation. Whole Foods and Wallmart are selling GMO's along with grocery stores. The bad part is that anything that uses corn in it in any form is tainted so many foods are involed. Occupy Monsanto is making a big push for people to grow their own food. A lot of homesteaders are canning a lot just to feed their families healthy food. I am sure GMOs is just one reason though, pesticides being another big factor...
At least in my way of thinking, including WF and Walmart in the same sentence as if they fall into the same level of transgression is not a good way to think of things. I am no big champion of WF and prefer to shop at a regional health oriented store, but WF does do some things right and does support prop 37. If you have to pick your battles to focus energy on the issues, I'd be looking at other things and places.
I do some food gardening, but for a homegrown food supply outside of a short growing season you'r getting into some specialty areas like cold frames, sunken beds, extensive canning or other preservation. These are things most common folks don't have the time or energy to do and it's not going to change the big picture much. And there are some staples like wheat and rice that are not part of the standard garden. Growing your own food is a good thing but at least to me seems like a thin solution to the problem. There are economies of scale that make larger scale food production a more efficient source, It just needs to be done right.
I see the problems, but I'm not sure I see the solutions as Occupy Monsanto puts forth.
ApatheticNoMore
10-9-12, 2:44pm
Ok that picture makes me want to go out and buy things to support the companies supporting prop 37 (and boycott those opposed). I almost never buy most of those things, but ... I could really use some AppleGate chicken sausages right about now! (I have often looked at them and drooled but figured it wasn't anything I needed as non-processed meat is probably healthier - but darn it now I just might). I bought Native Forrest coconut milk yesterday (at WF) because their products specifically said they were certified GMO Free, now all organics are supposed to be GMO free and I believe it pretty much, but I wanted to reward them for going the extra mile and now I see they support prop 37 as well.
At least in my way of thinking, including WF and Walmart in the same sentence as if they fall into the same level of transgression is not a good way to think of things. I am no big champion of WF and prefer to shop at a regional health oriented store, but WF does do some things right and does support prop 37. If you have to pick your battles to focus energy on the issues, I'd be looking at other things and places.
I do some food gardening, but for a homegrown food supply outside of a short growing season you'r getting into some specialty areas like cold frames, sunken beds, extensive canning or other preservation. These are things most common folks don't have the time or energy to do and it's not going to change the big picture much. And there are some staples like wheat and rice that are not part of the standard garden. Growing your own food is a good thing but at least to me seems like a thin solution to the problem. There are economies of scale that make larger scale food production a more efficient source, It just needs to be done right.
I see the problems, but I'm not sure I see the solutions as Occupy Monsanto puts forth.
+1 can't say it better.
ANM, Applegate also makes sliced products that aren't processed. Love those. And so delighted to see Organic Valley on the list. They have a milk sub-brand called Rocky Mountain Pastures that is from pasture-raised cows from our region. That's the kind of thing I want to support, so that market continues to grow.
Shifting my dollars and support from companies whose values I do not share, to companies whose values I do share -- that just feels intrinsically right to me. I agree with Rogar about WF as well. No company is perfect, but they do an awful lot that's in alignment with my values.
There is a ballot measure for the upcoming election to ban GMO crops in my county:
http://gmofreesjc.org/
Given that we have some geographic barriers to contamination from the mainland, it might well be worth voting for this, just to maintain the county as an agricultural preserve, given how much of our production is from heirloom varieties at present.
I love Whole Foods and happily shop there. The fruit & veg manager knows me by name, the guy at the fish counter has my usual order wrapped and ready for me by the time I finish getting fruit & veg. I like the size of the store; I don't like the huge mega-marts. I like their soup selection and if I get there early, there is hot fresh bread in the bakery. I have neither the ability nor the inclination to raise my own food. If you read labels, you should be able to shop where you want.
Tussiemussies
10-9-12, 9:42pm
I love Whole Foods and happily shop there. The fruit & veg manager knows me by name, the guy at the fish counter has my usual order wrapped and ready for me by the time I finish getting fruit & veg. I like the size of the store; I don't like the huge mega-marts. I like their soup selection and if I get there early, there is hot fresh bread in the bakery. I have neither the ability nor the inclination to raise my own food. If you read labels, you should be able to shop where you want.
Florence, that is the problem, we cannot get the government to label GMO food. The government is being bought out by Monsanto. They are actually appointed a big-wig from Monsanto to a big-wig job in the FDA!
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