AP Photo/Tony DejakEver feel like you're paying a little too much for your all your organic, gluten-free and kale-infused health fixes?
If you've been shopping at one of New York City's Whole Foods Market stores, that might just be the case. On Wednesday, Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) Commissioner Julie Menin announced an ongoing investigation into the supermarket chain after finding the company's NYC stores routinely overstated the weights of their pre-packaged products (including meats, dairy and baked goods) which resulted in consumers being overcharged.
"It is unacceptable that New Yorkers shopping for a summer BBQ or who grab something to eat from the self-service aisles at New York City's Whole Foods stores have a good chance of being overcharged," DCA Commissioner Menin said in a statement. "Our inspectors tell me this is the worst case of mislabeling they have seen in their careers, which DCA and New Yorkers will not tolerate. As a large chain grocery store, Whole Foods has the money and resources to ensure greater accuracy and to correct what appears to be a widespread problem-the city's shoppers deserve to be correctly charged."
Whole Foods issued their own statement in response to the DCA's investigation and claims, saying: "We disagree with the DCA's overreaching allegations and we are vigorously defending ourselves. We cooperated fully with the DCA from the beginning until we disagreed with their grossly excessive monetary demands. Despite our requests to the DCA, they have not provided evidence to back up their demands nor have they requested any additional information from us, but instead have taken this to the media to coerce us. Our customers are our number one stakeholder and we highly value their trust in us."
Depending on the end results of this investigation, Whole Foods could have to pay up. According to a statement from NYC's DCA, "the fine for falsely labeling a package is as much as $950 for the first violation and up to $1,700 for a subsequent violation. The potential number of violations that Whole Foods faces for all pre-packaged goods in the NYC stores is in the thousands."
This isn't the first time the company's prices have come under fire. According to a DCA release, Whole Foods chose to pay close to $800,000 in penalties after an investigation in California (which began in 2012) also found pricing irregularities in the state's Whole Foods stores. This led to some changes, including (per the DCA) Whole Foods initiating "a stringent in-house pricing accuracy effort that included a statewide compliance coordinator, a designated employee at each location for pricing accuracy, and random audits."
News of the Whole Foods investigation was first covered by the Daily News.
—Additional reporting by Lindsay Good