Beginning this Earth Day (April 22), Whole Foods Market will no longer carry red-rated wild-caught fish in its seafood departments. The move, which comes one year ahead of the company’s self-imposed deadline of Earth Day 2013, makes Whole Foods Market the first national grocer to stop selling red-rated seafood.
A red rating indicates that a species is suffering from overfishing or that current fishing methods harm other marine life or habitats; the ratings are determined by nonprofit research organizations Blue Ocean Institute and Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Since 2010, Whole Foods Market has worked with the two groups to display their color-coded sustainability ratings to help customers make informed choices when selecting wild-caught seafood. Each of the company’s regions has chosen to display ratings by either Monterey Bay Aquarium or Blue Ocean Institute.
The local Whole Foods store, Greenlife is included in this announcement. According to a spokesperson for Whole Foods, the Southeast region has been in the forefront of this initiative. Shoppers at Greenlife should not see any significant change with this policy.
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.