Whole Foods To Drop Chobani Products
It looks like the GMO wars are heating up.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Whole Foods is planning to drop all Chobani products from its shelves by early 2014, in an effort to clear space on the shelves for brands that are organic and don't use GMOs.
Whole Foods announced earlier this year that all genetically modified foods sold there would require labels by 2018, but hasn't made any mention of removing GMO foods from the shelves. Regardless, they sell 250 non-GMO brands, more than any other retailer in the country, according to their website. Interestingly enough, Chobani's main rival, Fage, will remain on the shelves at Whole Foods even though it also contains GMOs.
While it's ultimately still a bit of a mystery why Whole Foods decided to make this decision, Chobani doesn't seem to harbor any ill will, at least publicly. "Though we have limited distribution within Whole Foods, they have been a wonderful and an important partner of ours over the years," the company said in a statement to The Huffington Post. "We know our fans love buying our products in their stores and we hope to continue our partnership moving forward."