1.) Whole Foods Market
For the third year in a row, Whole Foods Market tops Greenpeace’s “Carting Away the Oceans” report, with a score of 7.46 – the highest score ever achieved in nine years. The grocery chain made improvements across categories: “Since our last report, Whole Foods has strengthened its wild and farmed seafood policies, was the top-ranked private label brand in Greenpeace USA’s canned tuna ranking, and was the only retailer to sign a coalition letter with major buyers in support of the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Enforcement Act of 2015,” the report stated.
Thanks in part to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Safina Center, Whole Foods Market has been able to deploy a comprehensive and pronounced labeling system that informs its customers at the point-of-sale. Moreover, the retailer makes a point of sharing its updates in policy and procedure fairly regularly online, and its Pole & Line brand canned tuna (sourced by American Tuna) offers a traceability format whereby consumers can scan barcodes to access more information about the fishers who made the catch and their fishing methods.
Whole Foods Markets offers 14 of the 22 Red List species and recently reintroduced some susceptible fish back into its stores, which poses a threat to its sustainability reputation, Greenpeace said.
“Unfortunately, this year Whole Foods reintroduced skates and rays, which are caught in a way that destroys seafloor habitats. As an industry leader, Whole Foods should not sell Canadian longline-caught swordfish (with its high bycatch rates) and bigeye tuna (a vulnerable species). Whole Foods must also drop Chilean sea bass, as it should not be sold anywhere. Taking these steps would mean the company is more effectively putting its commitments into practice,” the report advised.
The non-profit also suggested that Whole Foods Market could stand to be more active in regards to the aquaculture movement, surrounding policy and regulation, to further boost its score in 2016.
Headquarters: Austin, Texas
Store Count: 402 units in the U.S. under the brand names Whole Foods Market and Harry’s Farmers Market.
FY 2014 sales: USD 14.2 billion
