Whole Foods to Drop Chobani

Rachel Tepper Paley
·Editor
Updated

Photo credit: Chobani

Love Chobani? If you shop at Whole Foods, you’re out of luck. The grocery chain announced Wednesday that it would stop selling the Greek yogurt by early next year.

Here’s the deal: Chobani makes yogurt using a product Whole Foods considers genetically modified—milk from cows that have eaten genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) such as corn and soybeans.

But Chobani doesn’t divulge this on its label, which is where Whole Foods has a problem. In March, the chain announced that it wouldn’t carry any un-labeled GMO products in its American and Canadian stores after 2018.

In a statement supplied to ABC, Chobani sounded hopeful that the issue could be resolved:

"As the number one Greek yogurt brand in America using only natural ingredients, we share an affinity with Whole Foods and its shoppers. We know our fans love buying our products in their stores and we hope to continue our partnership moving forward." (Note that the Food and Drug Administration "has not developed a definition for use of the term natural or its derivatives,” but doesn’t take issue with it as long as the food isn’t full of ”added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances.”)

If all this GMO talk sounds like Greek yogurt to you, just read our piece on the subject.