Whole Foods Responsibly Farmed: Seafood

The Whole Foods Responsibly Farmed label applies to the farmed seafood sold at Whole Foods Market. Whole Foods developed these standards with Monterey Bay Aquarium. The label requirements vary between different kinds of seafood, but they broadly ban antibiotics and feed ingredients derived from GMO crops, poultry or mammals (such as cattle or pigs) in feed.

While the verification is done by third-party certifiers and ensures that products meet the label’s requirements, there are many issues the label leaves out. Although the label bans some of the most destructive practices associated with salmon, shrimp and other farms, it still allows seafood to come from industrially scaled farms that degrade both farmland and the ocean.  The label also does not address worker welfare, which is a particular concern in imported seafood.