AUSTIN, Texas — Whole Foods Market is mandating that every product in its household cleaning category be audited by a third-party and rated under a new color-coded labeling system.
Under its proprietary Eco-Scale Rating System products will be rated — red, orange, yellow or green — based on the specific set of environmental and sourcing standards each meets.
Cleaners will be required to meet, at the very minimum, the new baseline orange standard by April 22 (Earth Day), 2012. Red-rated products do not meet the Eco-Scale standards and will be reformulated or phased out of Whole Foods Market.
The system also requires suppliers to list every ingredient on product packaging, even though the U.S. government does not.
"We've always carefully monitored ingredients. Now, with Eco-Scale, we're able to help shoppers buy eco-friendly products with confidence and provide safer alternatives for their households and for the planet as a whole,” said Jim Speirs, global vice president of procurement for Whole Foods Market, in a statement.