July 9, 2009
For many consumers, the recession has changed the criteria they use to select products: Fair-trade coffee and free-range chicken can quickly move from the necessity to the luxury column when the pocketbook gets thinner.
But for those shoppers still flush enough to take such things into consideration, a new report from the World Society for the Protection of Animals will be of interest. The organization surveyed 200 grocery stores, and has deemed Whole Foods the "most humane grocer" in the nation.
From the report in Progressive Grocer:
![]() | Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods offered twice as many humanely labeled products per store — 83 — as the two grocers tied for second place, Shaw's Supermarkets and Publix Super Markets. Meanwhile, the lowest-ranked food retailer in the survey was Save-A-Lot, with no humanely labeled products found in its stores. Coming between those two extremes were Hy-Vee; Ralphs; Trader Joe's; Kroger; Giant Food Stores; Stop & Shop; Vons; Safeway; Meijer; Giant Eagle; SuperTarget; Albertsons; HEB; Winn-Dixie; Pathmark; Food Lion; Albertsons, LLC; Walmart Supercenters; BJ's Wholesale Club; and Sam's Club. | ![]() |