Whole Foods Educates Consumers on Premium Body Care Standards this Month

As part of its “Be Good to Your Whole Body” campaign in its Whole Body departments, Whole Foods Market this month is boosting its efforts to educate consumers on its Premium Body Care standards.

“Our goal two years ago was to provide an easier way for customers to cut through the confusion when looking for natural personal care products,” said Jody Villecco, Whole Foods’ quality standards coordinator. “In the process, Premium Body Care has pushed companies to examine the ingredients in their products and reformulate to meet our Quality Standards. As a result, we’ve seen an overall shift in the industry for safer, higher-quality natural body care products, and the availability of natural-based ingredients has expanded significantly.”

Whole Foods’ quality standards team has been committed to examining each personal care ingredient in products sold nationally in Whole Body. Using the latest scientific research and data, they evaluate each ingredient in four key areas: quality, environmental impact, results and safety. Currently, Premium Body Care lists more than 300 ingredients as unacceptable.

The educational effort will include in-store lectures and podcasts by Whole Body experts, covering such topics as what to look for on labeling when selecting safer, more natural alternatives; how the Premium Body Care standard defines “natural” for personal care; and how this standard challenges product suppliers to reformulate their products, and the overall impact this has on the natural body care industry.

In addition, the grocer is providing several resources online, including a three-part audio podcast series on its “Whole Story” blog. The first podcast, with Whole Foods’ Lecia Rand, category manager, discusses the challenges of developing affordable natural body care products that meet Premium Body Care standards. A second podcast, with Stacy Malkan, author of “Not Just a Pretty a Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry,” explores the impact of Premium Body Care on the natural products industry and why these standards are so valuable. The third part of the series, with Prairie Rose Hyde from Olympia, Wash.-based sustainable skin care company Alaffia, takes a look into how these standards have affected suppliers and therefore the natural body care industry as a whole.

Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods operates more than 280 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
X
This ad will auto-close in 10 seconds