How Whole Foods Changed Organic Food

Whole Foods has managed to make a name for themselves within the health food industry, but in the process labelled everything they could as “organic”. When faced with options like organic Kraft Dinner or Doritos, what does organic even mean anymore?

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Script: Bénédicte Herbout
Animator: Zachary Kastrukoff
Editor: Reid Valaitis
Project Manager: Lurana McClure Rodríguez

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[LilyLewis]

Our local Whole Foods used to have a fantastic, delicious bread selection. My parents literally bought bread only from Whole Foods and would go out of their way to drive there.

After Amazon bought it, the bread disappeared. It’s now been standardized and is no different from other stores. My dad actually learned to bake bread himself and we’ve been testing out different local bakeries and farmer’s markets as well to try and find good bread.

[anaheedjackson]

We purchase around 95% organic and are in the process of finishing a 30X50 foot greenhouse to start growing all our veggies in. We just planted 10 orchard trees, blueberries, raspberries, and we also buy local as much as we can. Local in my opinion is MUCH better than organic food at the store. All our meat is locally raised as well!
It is very difficult to navigate the current food system--you have to be an acute label reader and it takes a lot more time and expense to eat healthy. But it's so worth it, as I'd rather spend the money now on healthy food than have a lifetime of medical bills

[Joe-vmds]

I actively avoid anything labeled "organic" at the grocery store since that just means it's overpriced. I get as much produce as I can from the local farmer's market and small grocery shop and the quality is so much better than big chain grocery stores

[lisagadient]

This makes me sad... USDA Organic is something that I've strived to be able to feed my family. Places like Aldi and their organic food has made it possible for me to afford buying organic. Living in the North, as you are aware, makes shopping at farmers markets impossible for about 6-8 months of the year. We heavily rely upon grocery stores. It makes me sad that we can't fully trust ANOTHER government agency that's "suppose" to be protecting us. Thank you Levi for all you do.

[FrenchTheLlamaFTL]

I primarily shop at my local co-op, but typically don't get the organic products just because of price. Main exception to that is broccoli and that's because the conventional broccoli they carry has a lot more stem than the organic, and I don't want to pay for and waste the part of the broccoli that I won't eat. If I am at a conventional store I'll get the organic milk because it lasts forever, but at the co-op I get non-organic local milk because it's in a glass bottle that I return and then gets refilled. I really appreciate how many of the things that I can buy there are locally produced

[kathryncryts]

Thank you for making this video! Yeah, I stopped shopping at Whole Foods when I found out Amazon bought them. I mostly shop at my local farmers market and a store called Fresh Thyme for my food. I would love to see a video talking more about Whole Foods in the future!

[nimla]

I'm from France but it was super interesting, thank you ! I think there is so much to say about food and the impact of how we eat. For the past 10 years, the growth of plant-based eating (which is a great thing for the main part) has also been the growth of food trends around exotic fruits and nuts. And I feel like we are only now starting to realise the negative impact of it. The question that remains it: how can we make a local and mainly plant-based diet not boring?? Would love to see videos on these topics ! Thank you so much for your work

[chillwill]

Ok just to say about the Organic Doritos thing I'm allergic to artificial food dye so I haven't been able to have the OG Doritos for AGES. I'm happy there's at least one kind I can eat now which hopefully will cause the other ones to have the shift. Kinda like Kraft mac and cheese

[MsJordydee]

i used to work at whole foods! started right before the amazon transition. once it arrived....it sucked. starting though WF had so many great things going for them. I would like to hear more about Jeff Bezos tho!

[amyarcher]

Thank you for covering the small farm aspect of this. There is a ton of paperwork and record keeping that goes into being certified that small farms just don't have the time or money to do.

[justbeingkar]

Watching the this and reading the comments makes me realize how much of a "healthy food desert" I live in, but fortunately we just got a natural grocers that supplies quite a bit of local produce at a good price but is by no means "zero waste". I guess we have to do the best with what we got but hopefully things might trend better in the future. Great new channel! I enjoy both styles of your channel and look forward to more videos

[alisalee]

I live in Hongkong .orgainc food and consistent organic /ethical production garments are all too expensive to afford and in HK is hard to find nonplastic water. but your video is really positive to change lifeway.

[Bunny-chul]

I would love to see a video about when buying organic is actually the most environmentally friendly option, because it definitely isn't always.
1. If you have to choose between organic and locally sourced, locally sourced is pretty universally a more environmentally friendly option.
2. A lot of organic products take vastly more water to farm, which is disastrous in some areas. (See: The better part of the West Coast of the US.)
3. Both organic and chemical fertilizers can cause environmental damage, but organic fertilizers are a worse choice in some areas since they contain more bacteria. (See: E-coli outbreaks.)
4. Spoilage is frequently an issue with organic crops, meaning it takes more resources to get less product on store shelves for consumers.

I could go on. I feel like this issue is super nuanced, and reducing it to, "Organic good, chemical bad" unhelpful and untrue. Making the choice that feels good, or feels environmentally friendly isn't always the choice that is actually better for the earth. (See: Pleather.)

[RachelV-kyjd]

Now that its two years later, would love to have another video on how the brand changed since the acquisition by Amazon

[Chickadee]

I love the editing lol! This channel is amazing and I love both videos you have put out! Thank you for starting this channel, it is very helpful while also enjoyable.
My family has been shopping at Whole Foods for ages, mainly because they were one of the few places with allergy-friendly food before it was so widespread. We noticed an immediate negative change when Amazon bought it, and we no longer like it that much, especially the really high prices. We were very disappointed with it. We can often find identical things way cheaper elsewhere, but it is hard having to run around to six different stores to get all the stuff we need where it is cheaper or available.
One comment of organic food as a whole: the difference between organic and not seems to have decreased in the last ten years or so. I used to be able to tell by eating produce if it was organic or not, but I can't tell at all now. I assume organic produce is still better, but sometimes the non-organic tastes better or fresher than the organic produce. Often even the organic produce isn't very good, which is disappointing since I am in the city and don't have much access to farmer's markets, especially when they are so much more expensive than even organic produce.

[brookehermann]

I started eating organic at the beginning of 2021 and I will never go back to conventional food ever again. In 2021 alone I lost all of the covid weight that I had gained and more which for me was a lot and is a big deal because I’ve never in my life been able to drop 35 pounds within a year and I did it all because I started eating organic. My energy went through the roof because I wasn’t bogged down with all of the bullshit that is in conventional foods. Now when me and my boyfriend do eat non organic for the most part we feel sick afterwards and all we want to do is sleep and be unproductive. if it means that I have to pay more for a better quality product I will. Let’s be real look at any product from each of the different types of farming. The organic stuff always looks better doesn’t it??? Yes because it is a better quality product. Honestly people like this guy is the reason why American society will always be behind the rest of the world. Do you realize how much bull shit goes into conventional foods and has since the 80s?? What do you think the rich eat and why do you think that they survive longer and are healthier? THEY EAT ORGANIC. Wake up America and look around at all of the other countries within the world, do you think that they put half of the chemicals that WE put into our conventional foods…….hell no they don’t. So I’m sorry but if you all want to keep eating conventional foods and drinking that type of kool-aid then by all means do it!

[GaryScott-pdx]

Yes, I shop at whole Foods. It's convenient and the produce, when I need it, is better than most of the alternatives. We also subscribe to a local CSA so I only buy produce that we can't get from our CSA.

[jayviescas]

It's become a scam. I worked on a certified organic farm for a couple years back in the mid 90s and there was a lot of inconsistencies with the practices and policies you had to adhere to so we soon gave it up and adopted what you failed to research on - the sustainable CLEAN foods movement and found it more ethical, reasonably affordable and sound than the travesty that the Organic certification had become.

[amandamyththelegend]

Whole Foods may be a step above Walmart/Costco but they don't have anything on my co-op & local farmers <3 You can literally taste the difference and support people in your community. Win - Win!

[GabrielG]

I'm a big whole foods / organic food enjoyer, but seeing videos like this helps make the bigger picture easier to understand, I definitely would love to watch a video about whole foods, maybe some things they could be hiding / sweeping under the rug?