Popular grocery retailer Whole Foods has found itself in hot water. Due to a recent report that claims its advertised premium brand of chicken may not be so premium.
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Report Finds Whole Foods Chicken Comes From Salmonella-Contaminated Factories
According to a report released by Farm Forward on Monday (October 5), the company appears to be putting on a front. They have prided themselves on providing "better meat" than its competitors like Kroger and Walmart. But the report found that the meat from Whole Foods' self-proclaimed private-label chicken came from the same plants. Which, by popular poultry company Perdue Farms. And jacking up the price for consumers.
Per Farm Forward's report, they inspected more than 200 packages of the grocer's raw chicken. And cross-referenced the federal codes to figure out which plant the meat was coming from. The discovery? More than 90% of those raw chicken packages had been produced at a Perdue plant.
An even more alarming revelation was that the plants at which the meat was produced were said to have dangerous levels of Salmonella contamination. 98% of the meat was processed at a plant where the virus was present
In a statement obtained by the New York Post, Purdue acknowledged that Salmonella was a "complex" challenge in their industry. But they were taking the necessary steps to navigate through it.
"Consumers expect safe food, and so do we. Salmonella is a complex challenge across the food industry, and it's one we've been actively working to reduce using science-based approaches that continue strengthening food safety and driving meaningful public health improvements," they said in a statement obtained by the outlet.
But the fact that the 365 brand chicken came from Perdue factories was not the only instance of their dishonesty. The company also prides itself on not using antibiotics in its products. However, the strain of Salmonella that was found by the outlet was said to be "drug-resistant."
So far, Whole Foods has not responded to the report.
