Trader Joe's Moves Toward More Socially Responsible Food

August 16, 2012

Trader Joe’s has not become a more socially responsible food purveyor easily, or voluntarily, for that matter. Initially, groups such as Greenpeace pressured the retailer, and more recently it has responded to consumer interest in cleaner food and cleaner labels.

Trader Joe's store image After heavy pressure from Greenpeace in 2010, the boutique grocery chain pledged to only sell seafood harvest sustainably by this coming December. But the retailer did not stop there — it has since been on a mission to remove all non-sustainable products from its shelves, including genetically modified products, according to an article in The Atlantic.

Trader Joe’s — owned by the Albrecht family in Germany, which also owns Aldi — operates 365 stores with estimated annual sales of $8 billion, on par with Whole Foods Market. While not a health food store chain, Trader Joe’s offers a significant assortment of gourmet, natural and organic products. But Trade Joe’s is more know for its unique, tasty and affordable product mix.

However, the chain’s commitment to eco-friendly practices has been widely criticized beyond Greenpeace, according to The Atlantic, which covered the controversy over Trader Joe's reluctance to sign the Fair Food Agreement, which addressed allegations of mistreatment of migrant tomato pickers. “The store eventually relented this past February and signed the agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a labor rights group made up mainly of Latino, Haitian, and Mayan Indian workers employed in low-wage migrant jobs in Florida,” The Atlantic reported. “The agreement requires Trader Joe's to pay a penny more per pound of tomatoes and to ensure better working conditions for laborers.”

Since the public relations scrap, Trader Joe's has pulled all red-listed items from its shelves, and has publicly committed stocking more sustainable and non-GMO items, according to the report.

GRD Views: Given the substantial percentage of Trader Joe’s sales that are from store brands, we think they are an early mover in what will be a growing trend to produce “sustainable store brands.” – John Failla for Green Retail Decisions

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