Tag Archives: Whole Foods

Whole Foods hucksterism

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Starting a sentence with, ‘well’ may be how people talk but it’s just sloppy writing.

And terrible writing is proliferating all over the Internet.

The Whole Story blog of Whole Foods is a favorite target. It must be a challenge to keep getting people to pay a premium for crap.

Today, they put aside the pretentions and said this is why you should pay more – for crap.

“Well, our turkey standards prohibit animal by-products in feed and require space for normal turkey behavior. So isn’t it worth it that when a turkey is raised with these standards its meat costs more?”

I’m interested in turkey that doesn’t make me barf. Can you provide that?

Seeduction bread or whole wheat sandwich bread made without artificial dough conditioners and preservatives is about 14¢ more per sandwich compared to leading conventional brand whole wheat sandwich bread.

I’m a fan of chemistry, Is Whole Foods a fan of witchcraft?

Organic Mustard (and I have no idea why the ingredients are capitalized, must be that unique Whole Foods writing style) helps you avoid exposure to pesticides with your sandwich and is less than 2¢ more per serving.

Organic is a production standard that has huge tolerances for synthetic chemicals and any kind of so-called natural chemicals.

Organic Lettuce is another good choice for your health and that of the planet and costs about $1.00 more per head.

Why? Is it safer? No. Do the production methods extract less of a toll on the soil? No.

Tomatoes taste best (and have more nutrients) when they are picked ripe, so look for local and in season, as well as organic. Local may cost less, organic about 20% more.

Food porn, nothing to back this up.

Lunchmeat that doesn’t contain artificial colors, flavors or preservatives such as added synthetic nitrates or nitrites and from animals raised to meet our animal welfare standards- you get all that for about 25¢ more per slice.

This has nothing to do with food safety. Whole Foods is familiar with listeria?
 

Whole Foods still sucks at food safety

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Whole Foods sucks at food safety. And if they are going to recycle recipes, I’m going to recycle criticism.

With the July 4 holiday on the way, Whole Foods is once again promoting its recipe for the self-proclaimed perfect burger, which says,

“Grill meat to desired doneness; about 4 to 6 minutes per side over a medium hot fire. Be careful not to overcook, which will dry out the meat. If you’re a cheeseburger fan, add the cheese as soon as you flip to the second side.”

This is nonsense. Color is a lousy indicator of food safety and I guess “desired doneness” is about freedom of choice. But if you don’t want to make your kids or guests barf, use a tip-sensitive digital meat thermometer, and stick it in.
 

When people start barfing, raw milk loses its fun

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Laura Landro of The Wall Street Journal writes this morning that amid new reports of illnesses linked to raw milk, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration are stepping up efforts to warn consumers of the dangers, and urging states to strengthen their regulations to minimize the hazards of raw milk. …

On Friday, the FDA reported 12 new cases of illness in the Midwest linked to raw milk from a dairy contaminated with a dangerous bacterium, campylobacter

Kalee Prue, a 29-year old Connecticut mother of one, says she believed in the benefits of raw milk but became ill soon after drinking some purchased at a Whole Foods in Connecticut linked to the E. coli outbreak.

Ms. Prue says even if there are healthy properties in raw milk, "there are other ways to get the benefits that raw milk has to offer, and it just isn’t worth the risk."

Whole Foods declined comment on Ms. Prue’s case.

Whole Foods, like any other demagogue, sucks when it is questioned, but they sure like the attention when they hold the microphone.

Sally Fallon Morrell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, which promotes the consumption of "nutrient-dense whole foods," including raw milk, says the risks described from the CDC and FDA are "way overblown" and that the there is ample evidence that raw milk has many health properties. .

At the Grassfields farm in Coopersville, Mich., where 150 families belong to a cow-sharing program called Green Pastures, … it treats infections when they occur with "herbs, homeopathy, tinctures, prayer and vitamins."

More faith-based food safety.

Whole Foods, Target, playing same game of consumer deceit with seafood

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Seafood in Kansas sucks.

Of course it does, we’re at least 20 hours from any major body of water.

 But the available choices became a bunch more confusing.

I chuckle when one of the local upscale restaurants advertizes mussels from Prince Edward Island (that’s in Canada) for some outrageous price to pay for the air transit. They’re mussels, a buck a pound in Ontario.

Whole Foodies announced a few days ago they would continue selling farmed fish, but only under the Whole Foods Market Responsibly Farmed logo, verified by third-party auditors, which is completely meaningless.

Now Target Corp., another of our regular shopping destinations, has announced it has eliminated all farmed salmon from its fresh, frozen and smoked seafood sections at stores nationwide.

The discount giant said it wanted to ensure that its salmon was "sourced in a sustainable way that helps to preserve abundance, species health and doesn’t harm local habitats."

The Minneapolis company said salmon farms could hurt the environment through pollution, chemicals and parasites.

So who’s right? Whole Foods or Target? I want aquaculture, to save the oceans, and don’t buy into some third-party auditing bullshit.

 

Whole Foods still sucks at food safety advice – Hosea from Top Chef edition

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In July, 1977, Fernwood 2Night, a satirical talk show like no other, began airing as a summer replacement for Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. I was explaining this to Amy the other night as Fred Willard showed up in a cameo in yet another movie – the guy’s everywhere – and I was telling her about this wildly satirical talk show featuring Willard as sidekick Jerry Hubbard, and host Barth Gimble, played by Martin Mull.

According to the wiki entry, “Fernwood 2Nite was set in the fictional town of Fernwood, Ohio. The show satirized real talk shows as well as the sort of fare one might expect from locally-produced, small-town, midwestern American television programming. Well-known actors usually appeared playing characters or a contrivance had to be written for the celebrity to appear as themselves. (In one episode, Tom Waits’ tour bus happened to break down in Fernwood.)"

Barth and Jerry came to mind as I watched the latest video entry from Whole Foods Markets, this time on how to cook a turkey for the upcoming holidays, featuring Hosea, some dude who won Top Chef Season Five.

I so wished it was satire.

Barth, or Martin Mull captured the essence of cooking turkey in his book and 1985 mockumentary, History of White People in America, volume 1, in which Mull and Mary Kay Place engage in a Thanksgiving discussion and conclude, “You can’t overcook turkey. That’s what the gravy is for.”

When it comes to offering bad food safety advice, Whole Foods never fails. They really suck at this food safety thing. As I’ve written before, Whole Foods Market has terrible food safety advice, blames consumers for getting sick, sells raw milk in some stores, offers up fairytales about organic and natural foods, and their own CEO says they sell a bunch of junk.

Leave it to Whole Foods to use a chef to offer food safety tips.

In a 5-minute video, Hosea says to rinse the bird in cold water – don’t you’ll just spread dangerous bacteria everywhere – and during prep manages to cross-contaminates everything by touching the raw bird, then the butter saucepan, the pepper mill, the salt container, the wine bottle and so on.

A chart of suggested cooking times based on weight and whether the bird is stuffed or not is provided – it’s useless – but at least Hosea says to use a thermometer. He also says or until the juices run clear. Ignore the juices part, use a tip-senesitive digital thermometer. Hosea also says cook to 165F (correct) but then let it sit for 20-40 minutes, which is also correct, but will also raise the internal temperature by about 20F. Bring on the gravy.

In Canada, where the laws of physics are somehow different, Health Canada continues to recommend cooking all the crap out of a bird until 185F. The U.S. changed its advice to 165F years ago. When asked why, Canadian government types won’t talk. It’s a secret.

We’ve got lots of turkey cooking advice and a video from last year. And in honor of Fernwood 2Night, a clip about natural foods, the kind you may find at Whole Foods. Along with bad advice. Except it’s been disabled for sharing. So here’s Tom Waits.

Nose stretcher alert: Whole Foods explains why it stopped selling raw milk in Florida

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Whole Foods Market has terrible food safety advice, blames consumers for getting sick, sells raw milk in some stores, offers up fairytales about organic and natural foods, and their own CEO says they sell a bunch of junk.

Whole Foods in Florida has officially dropped raw milk from its shelves. Until Thursday, Whole Foods market sold raw milk with a pet food label. Human drinkers bought it for their personal consumption.

During an interview published yesterday by the Miami New Times, Russ Benblatt, Whole Foods regional marketing director for Florida, said,

“This was a decision that was made here at the regional level. I can’t get into too many details, but it was purely a business decision to stop selling the raw milk, and I can’t get into the specifics of it. … We made a decision to stop selling it as a pet food. We’ve never sold it for human consumption. … We’re a grocery store we try not to get involved in politics. … If we’re involved in politics then I’m not aware of it. We’re not involved in any lobbying or political action committees in the state of Florida.”

Just a grocery store. Uh-huh. There isn’t a foodie cause Whole Foods wouldn’t embrace to peddle a few more dollars worth of crap.
 

Beer can be made at home: so why is Whole Foods featuring beer shipped from Germany? Not sustainable

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Pointing out the hypocrisy of Whole Foods is like going quail hunting with Dick Cheney: too easy, too stupid, and someone’s going to get shot in the face (or near the heart).

Whole Foods, defenders of all things natural and sustainable, is featuring beer imported from Germany — or Czech Republic, depending on who’s brewing it — this month.

Beer is one of those things that can be fairly easily produced in a local venue: hops, malt, water, yeast.

Whole Foods CEO John Mackay was right last week when he said Whole Foods sold a bunch of junk.
 

Shurly some mistake: Whole Foods to offer health advice, healthier foods

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Whole Foods Market has terrible food safety advice, blames consumers for getting sick, sells raw milk in some stores, and offers up fairytales about organic and natural foods.

The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Whole Foods chief John Mackey is now going to reposition the Austin, Texas, chain as a champion of healthy living in a return to its natural-foods roots.

"We sell a bunch of junk," he said, vowing to promote healthier lifestyles for its customers and employees. "We’ve decided if Whole Foods doesn’t take a leadership role in educating people about a healthy diet, who the heck is going to do it?"

Given the track record outlined above, almost anybody and any group would be better qualified than Whole Foods. Besides, as soon as someone says they’re going to educate someone else, it’s propaganda rather than compelling, evidence-based information,

I look forward to the whoppers being offered up as educational material in Whole Foods’ future.
 

Whole Foods porn

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If you’re a retailer as big as Whole Foods, how hard is it to provide accurate information?

For their July 4 “perfect burgers” the food porn emporium says, “Grill meat to desired doneness; about 4 to 6 minutes per side over a medium hot fire. Be careful not to overcook, which will dry out the meat.”

This means nothing, but as a smart food science prof once told me, processing is all about adding air and water and charging more; Whole Foods adds swarmy words and charges more.

Color is a lousy indicator of safety. Use a tip-sensitive thermometer, and use food porn for titillation, not safety.

Don’t drink infected pig blood

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Reuters reported yesterday that new information from the World Health Organization suggested pigs sickened with H1N1 swine flu should not be consumed, despite earlier insistence that fully cooked pork is perfectly safe.

The story states,

"The WHO comments appear more cautious than those from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), which said import bans are not required to safeguard public health because the disease is not food-borne and has not been identified in dead animal tissue.

The WHO however said it was possible for flu viruses to survive the freezing process and be present in thawed meat, as well as in blood."

Well, who in their right mind drinks raw pig blood thinking it won’t possibly make them sick?

I didn’t find any statements on the WHO website that mentioned the ability of viruses to survive freezing–or its pertinence to the consumption of fully cooked pork–but I discovered that the WHO, FAO, and OIE have reissued their joint statement from April 30 today to address misunderstanding of the consumption of meat from H1N1 infected pigs. The statement reads, in part,

"Authorities and consumers should ensure that meat from sick pigs or pigs found dead are not processed or used for human consumption under any circumstances."

Sick or dead animals should never be slaughtered, regardless of the cause of illness or death. This  reduces the risk for cross-contamination. The statement reassures,

"Heat treatments commonly used in cooking meat (e.g. 70°C/160°F core temperature) will readily inactivate any viruses potentially present in raw meat products.

Pork and pork products, handled in accordance with good hygienic practices recommended by the WHO, Codex Alimentarius Commission and the OIE, will not be a source of infection."

But I shouldn’t be spelling this stuff out–the WHO should. And they should address the bit about viruses surviving freezing and how that impacts food handlers.

Authorities should communicate the risks and how they’re being managed (or can be managed) in a way the public can understand and the media can’t mess up. It’s their responsibility to a concerned public.