Whole Foods and Safeway Named to World's Most Ethical Companies List

Food supermarkets Whole Foods Market and Safeway are leading proponents of corporate social responsibility. Individually, they've instituted philanthropic programs such as Whole Planet Foundation, which creates economic opportunity for food producers in developing countries, and the Safeway Foundation, which supports charitable efforts toward hunger relief, education and assistance for people with disabilities. Now, they've officially been named among 2013's World's Most Ethical Companies.

The designation is courtesy of Ethisphere Institute, a think tank dedicated to advancing best practices in business ethics, anti-corruption and sustainability. For the past seven years, it annually selects companies in a variety of industries for its official list. Company executives, industry peers, suppliers and customers nominate businesses, which are then evaluated by Ethisphere for investment in sustainable practices, codes of ethics and corporate citizenship activities. This year 145 companies were named from three dozen industries including retail, insurance, aerospace and alternate energy.

Other food companies named to Ethisphere's 2013 list include Starbucks, UK's Marks and Spencer and New Zealand's All Good Organics. The list is published in the current issue of the quarterly magazine Ethisphere and is available here.

Whole Foods Sets Deadline for GMO Labeling

Whole Foods Market has taken an unprecedented step in mandating food labeling. On March 8, the natural foods supermarket giant announced that by 2018, all products in its stores in the U.S. and Canada must be labeled if they contain genetically modified organisms, which have been manipulated through genetic engineering by introducing changes into DNA structure. This makes Whole Foods the first national grocery store to set a GMO labeling deadline.

The move comes at a time when interest is building in non-GMO products. According to a recent poll by The Huffington Post in partnership with YouGov, nearly 82 percent of Americans want labels for GMO food. During last November's elections, a mandatory labeling initiative known as Prop 37 was defeated in California, a move largely attributed to millions of dollars being spent against the measure by big corporations like Monsanto. Nearly 60 countries around the world have already banned or restricted GMOs.

The issue isn't without controversy. GMOs have proliferated the food supply across the world over the past 15+ years, with most corn and soybean crops using these organisms. Many in the food industry debate if there is adequate proof that GMOs pose any health or food safety concerns; the Food and Drug Administration says evidence is inconclusive. Proponents of GMOs argue that they are engineered to thrive in extreme weather and can help prevent crop shortages and global malnutrition.

In making the announcement, co-CEO Walter Robb said Whole Foods views the move as "putting a stake in the ground to support a consumer's right to know." The bottom line is really about giving shoppers the information they need to make informed choices. Clear and mandatory labeling on products is the most straightforward way to do this. Without it, consumers are in the dark as to the details of how the food they are purchasing is made.