Challenge to Whole Foods: Stop Selling the Most Endangered Fish

By Robert Sietsema Tue., Aug. 31 2010 at 3:22 PM

Categories: Food for Thought, Sietsema

Here's an example of a fish Whole Foods shouldn't be selling.

OK, Whole Foods, you're turning 30 in a couple of weeks, so it's time to grow up. Your little ploy of marking the severely overfished species with a red dot makes you seem eco-conscious -- while still profiting from the world's declining fish stocks, as Sarah DiGregorio points out. The idea that the consumer should still be able to make an "informed choice," and assist in exterminating an entire species, is absurd.

The seafood counter at Whole Foods.

Did all the people we observed buying red-dot fish say to themselves, "Well, the hake is likely to go nearly extinct in the near future, but I deserve to eat the last few morsels since I'm inviting the boss to dinner." No, more likely they saw the fish for sale and simply bought it, without trying to figure out your confusing marking scheme.

So, Fork in the Road challenges you to do the right thing and stop selling any fish with a red dot affixed to it.