Whole Foods accused of greatly overcharging customers

Based on weight of item, New York officials discovered overcharging.

Whole Foods, the American foods supermarket chain that specializes in organic goods, has been accused of massive overcharging. The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs explained they have discovered "systematic overcharging for pre-packaged foods" at the city's Whole Foods stores.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - "Whole Foods is expensive - but it shouldn't be this expensive," stated the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. Julie Menin, the department's commissioner, said, "Our inspectors tell me this is the worst case of mislabeling they have seen in their careers."

An investigation done by New York officials revealed 80 various kinds of pre-packaged goods, none of which had correct weighs, and 89 percent of packages disobeyed federal rules for how much a package can vary from actual weight.

The shocking overcharges include vegetable platters which are sold at $20 per package. This product has been overpriced by $2.50 on regular basis, and one package was found to be overpriced by $6.15. Additionally, chicken tenders and a package of berries were overpriced by an average of $4.13 and  $1.15 a package, respectively.

The city's statement indicated that "the overcharges were especially prevalent in packages that had been labeled with exactly the same weight when it would be practically impossible for all of the packages to weigh the same amount."

The city claimed they found a "few instances" where the the listed weight was less than it actually was, which would have provided a savings for consumers.

Whole Foods has reacted and expressed that they disagree with what they referred to as "overreaching allegations" and said they strongly defend their supermarket chain.

According to the spokesman of Whole Foods Michael Sinatra, "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."

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'

Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online