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Whole Foods Pledges To Stop Using Prison Labor

Whole Foods Market has decided to stop selling products from a prison labor program after reform advocates demonstrated outside a store in Texas.

The company sells two products made with prison labor – goat cheese from Haystack Mountain Dairy and tilapia from Quixotic Farming.

Both are made through an arrangement with Colorado Correctional Industries (CCI) , which employs prisoners to milk goats and raise fish.

CCIÂ is tied to the state's prison system, and says the program helps inmates gain workforce skills they can use after release.

The company's director told Fortune that base pay starts at 60 cents a day, but prisoners earn up to $400 a month with incentives.

The company reported in 2014 that it employed more than 1,800 inmates and aims to expand by twice that number over the next decade.

Whole Foods plans to remove the two products from its stores by April next year.

Read More:



  • Whole Foods Will Stop Selling Food Made By Prisoners (Grist)
  • Why Whole Foods Will Stop Selling Products Made By Prisoners (Christian Science Monitor)
  • Whole Foods Says It Will Stop Selling Foods Made With Prison Labor (NPR)
  • Whole Foods To Stop Selling Products Made By Inmates(Associated Press)


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