Just venting: Whole Foods complaints

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love Whole Foods. Still the only store that bands hundreds of artificial additives in their store, which for me is the entire point of shopping there, since I don't want to dissect every single tiny-print ingredients list.

Of course some produce won't be good if it's out of season! That's a rookie mistake, people.

And there will be occasional disappointments in other products. I posted on DCUM, many years ago, of my disastrous encounter with fresh, never-frozen, salmon from the Bethesda WF that had tiny worms in it, wriggling merrily after I baked it in foil (not enough, apparently). My preschool daughter noticed them after my son and I had taken our first bites. I now only buy fish that's frozen on ship - it kills the parasites.

There are certain produce peope need to buy for various reasons. Leafy greens are wilted. Period. No point debating this because each and every time it has been the case in the last year. MOMs produce should be better 🤞.

[Anonymous]

Why don’t they sell parsnips?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love Whole Foods. Still the only store that bands hundreds of artificial additives in their store, which for me is the entire point of shopping there, since I don't want to dissect every single tiny-print ingredients list.

Of course some produce won't be good if it's out of season! That's a rookie mistake, people.

And there will be occasional disappointments in other products. I posted on DCUM, many years ago, of my disastrous encounter with fresh, never-frozen, salmon from the Bethesda WF that had tiny worms in it, wriggling merrily after I baked it in foil (not enough, apparently). My preschool daughter noticed them after my son and I had taken our first bites. I now only buy fish that's frozen on ship - it kills the parasites.

There are certain produce peope need to buy for various reasons. Leafy greens are wilted. Period. No point debating this because each and every time it has been the case in the last year. MOMs produce should be better 🤞.

Maybe switch your Whole Foods? I find that quality isn't the same for every product in every store. I go to the Rockville WF and the leafy greens are not wilted. I've been a little disappointed with the selection at the Bethesda Whole Foods this year - they haven't stocked some of my go-to items in many months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t they sell parsnips?

They used to in Rockville, although I haven't looked for them in a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love Whole Foods. Still the only store that bands hundreds of artificial additives in their store, which for me is the entire point of shopping there, since I don't want to dissect every single tiny-print ingredients list.

Of course some produce won't be good if it's out of season! That's a rookie mistake, people.

And there will be occasional disappointments in other products. I posted on DCUM, many years ago, of my disastrous encounter with fresh, never-frozen, salmon from the Bethesda WF that had tiny worms in it, wriggling merrily after I baked it in foil (not enough, apparently). My preschool daughter noticed them after my son and I had taken our first bites. I now only buy fish that's frozen on ship - it kills the parasites.

There are certain produce peope need to buy for various reasons. Leafy greens are wilted. Period. No point debating this because each and every time it has been the case in the last year. MOMs produce should be better 🤞.

Maybe switch your Whole Foods? I find that quality isn't the same for every product in every store. I go to the Rockville WF and the leafy greens are not wilted. I've been a little disappointed with the selection at the Bethesda Whole Foods this year - they haven't stocked some of my go-to items in many months.

organic celery was bad in last few purchases at another WF.

[Anonymous]

I have not many complaints about our local WF. Is it as good as the European markets and upscale grocers? No. It's about as good as you are going to get in the US asides from directly growing your own foods (we grow a lot of our own produce and have greenhouses).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have not many complaints about our local WF. Is it as good as the European markets and upscale grocers? No. It's about as good as you are going to get in the US asides from directly growing your own foods (we grow a lot of our own produce and have greenhouses).

So, what happened? My complaint is that specific Whole Foods stores that used to be excellent have now become mediocre. What changed? Does the quality of produce and other products that was commonplace a few years ago no longer exist in the US? Problems were apparent pre-COVID, but there has definitely been a downward slide in the last few years.

[Anonymous]

I stopped shopping at WF because the quality vs price paid was terrible.

Same thing happened to me - I bought berries that went bad overnight. I bought bread that molded 2 days after purchase. I bought pork that had a strange color to the underside once I opened the package.

I buy huge containers of organic strawberries from Costco and they will last a week more. Actually, we went out of town this past weekend and when I went to pack lunches on Monday, the strawberries from Costco that were purchased on 9/1 were still totally fine.

There are a few specialty things we will grab at WF from time to time that aren't offered at other places but that's it. It went from our main store for shopping to somewhere we went maybe once a month.

The only meat quality I've found that has gone down everywhere is chicken. The chicken from Costco is so 'woody' and same with from Harris Teeter. I tried some from Aldi and it was fine but my one kid said it had an odd "earthy" taste, whatever the heck that means. Wegmans chicken can be hit-or-miss. Giant is the most consistent but the Giant near me is older, smaller and terrible at keeping their items in stock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have not many complaints about our local WF. Is it as good as the European markets and upscale grocers? No. It's about as good as you are going to get in the US asides from directly growing your own foods (we grow a lot of our own produce and have greenhouses).

So, what happened? My complaint is that specific Whole Foods stores that used to be excellent have now become mediocre. What changed? Does the quality of produce and other products that was commonplace a few years ago no longer exist in the US? Problems were apparent pre-COVID, but there has definitely been a downward slide in the last few years.

The thing that happened was they were bought by Amazon. I noticed the decline in only a few weeks after the purchase.

Nobody has mentioned Sprouts on this thread, so I will point out they are my replacement.

[Anonymous]

Apparently.
from CNN
Fans of Whole Foods’ iconic Berry Chantilly Cake have been up in arms on social media over the past few weeks. One TikTok user showed a single slice stuffed with compote and with fruit on the side. In the past, the user said, the layers had been filled with fresh fruit and cream
The nerve of Whole Foods!
Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love Whole Foods. Still the only store that bands hundreds of artificial additives in their store, which for me is the entire point of shopping there, since I don't want to dissect every single tiny-print ingredients list.

Of course some produce won't be good if it's out of season! That's a rookie mistake, people.

And there will be occasional disappointments in other products. I posted on DCUM, many years ago, of my disastrous encounter with fresh, never-frozen, salmon from the Bethesda WF that had tiny worms in it, wriggling merrily after I baked it in foil (not enough, apparently). My preschool daughter noticed them after my son and I had taken our first bites. I now only buy fish that's frozen on ship - it kills the parasites.

Check out Trader Joe’s. I’m not sure what’s on your list, but TJ’s has an extensive — and possibly similar — list of bans.

I’ve started reading the fine print at WF once I realized that something I purchased there had GMO ingredients.

-Eeew gross. Thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous]

It amazes me that people want their produce to last an extraordinarily long time. You realize it does that because of artificial means, right? Bread SHOULD mold in a couple of days. Produce should wilt in a few days. If it doesn’t, it’s full of preservatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It amazes me that people want their produce to last an extraordinarily long time. You realize it does that because of artificial means, right? Bread SHOULD mold in a couple of days. Produce should wilt in a few days. If it doesn’t, it’s full of preservatives.

No the produce was wilted because of over watering at that WF.

[Anonymous]

Trader Joe's has terrible produce. Whole foods is still superior. At least the one by us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have not many complaints about our local WF. Is it as good as the European markets and upscale grocers? No. It's about as good as you are going to get in the US.

This makes me so sad. The quality of the produce at any market in Europe, even in totally working-class, unfancy neighborhoods, is so much better and cheaper than ANYTHING you find in US markets. I always get a tiny bit depressed on my first grocery trip in the US after having travelled in Europe.