<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I sent the following email message to Whole Foods who responded with an
obvious suggestion that I hadn't thought about when I was foraging there for
meals while traveling. First is my message and second is the answer.

Vic - Sunnyvale, CA


Dear Whole Foods,

Although I shop extensively at Cupertino, CA, this question really was
triggered by shopping at the Pasadena, CA store. We have been traveling in
Southern California and since I am gluten-intolerant, it made lots of sense
to buy prepared food from the deli. It, by the way, was very good.

Some of the items in the deli say they are made with "Tamari" sauce. Some
tamari has wheat which would be very bad for me, and other tamari sauce is
just made from soy beans. These deli items used "Tamari" as a final
ingredient, but Tamari is not a final ingredient. Can you please label the
deli items a little more thoroughly so that I can tell which are safe for me
to eat and which are not? Generally, the unlabeled deli items were behind
the deli counter. The self-serve hot and cold salad bar items were fully
labeled, and a number warned of wheat as an ingredient.

The good news is that there were plenty of fully labeled items available, so
there was no chance of either going hungry or becoming bored with the food.

Thank you for even better labeling in the future.

Now the answer

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Whole Foods Market with your concerns. We aim to
make nutritional information on all of our products available to our
customers whenever possible. Each of our regional and in-store chefs
develops hundreds of recipes, often based on local and seasonal ingredients,
and the data analysis necessary to create nutrition labels is not always
possible.

The FDA's Nutritional Labeling & Education Act of 1994 requires that most
food packages be labeled. The regulations exempt ready-to-eat foods prepared
primarily on site, such as deli and bakery items and restaurant food.
Additionally, nutritional information is voluntary for raw fruits and
vegetables, meat, fish and poultry.

The nutritional information on many of our bakery items is available at the
bakery. A Bakery Team Member can show them to you and make photocopies of
the information if you would like.

If there is ever any question about a certain ingredient, for example
tamari, please don't hesitate to ask one of our team members. They can
always show you the bottle so you can verify that it's safe for your dietary
needs. We always do our best to label our prepared foods as thoroughly as
possible. Since the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act went
into effect on January 1 of this year we have been voluntarily listing the
eight major food allergens on all of our prepared foods that have an
ingredients listing.

Sincerely,

Rachael V. Gruver
Customer Information Specialist
Whole Foods Market
550 Bowie Street
Austin, Texas 78703

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