Posted June 25, 2015
New York
City's Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) said that an ongoing investigation
of Whole Foods Market stores has found systemic overcharging of its customers
for prepackaged food, according to a NBC News article available here.
CBS also published an article available here
and ABC here.
"The
overcharges ranged from [80 cents] for a package of pecan panko to $14.84 for a
package of coconut shrimp," the agency said in a statement.
"Our
inspectors tell me this is the worst case of mislabeling they have seen in
their careers," said DCA Commissioner Julie Menin in a statement.
In emailed
statements, Whole Foods said, "We disagree with the DCA's overreaching
allegations." It said the department had made "grossly excessive
monetary demands" to settle the dispute, but it would not disclose the
amount, according to CBS.
The city's
investigation of Whole Foods is ongoing so penalties have not yet been assessed.
Fines for falsely labeling a package can be as much as $950 for the first
violation and up to $1,700 for subsequent violations. The department said Whole
Foods had thousands of potential violations.
In California, Whole Foods agreed to pay close to $800,000
in penalties after a 2012 investigation that found pricing irregularities in the
Santa Monica, Los Angeles and San Diego, New York stores officials said,
according to ABC.
Almost 89 percent of tested packages did not meet the
federal standard for the maximum amount that a package can deviate from its actual
weight, set by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The average deviation has not
been disclosed.
