Is 365 a Whole Foods brand?

Yes. It's one of their private labels. Here's more info on these.

hi, i'm having difficulty with the link attached above. please resend actual link for more info about their private labels.
thanks.

Hi Rebecca, here's the link amy posted

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/produ...

This is the same strategy that Trader Joe's uses. Whole Foods finds products they like and approaches the manufacturer about "private labeling" the product. Sometimes the 365 product will be exactly the same as the name brand product next to it on the shelf, though often a company like Whole Foods will request some changes. The food is generally produced in the same factory/kitchen and delivered on the same trucks; only the label is different. Private Label merchandise is usually cheaper than the name brand alternative because it is purchased in bulk.

Whole Foods may also copy a product that they like and have it manufactured by a third party. A number of years ago Whole Foods approached a friend's company about private labeling a salad dressing, but they wanted a shelf-stable version (rather than refrigerated). Believing that this would compromise quality my friends declined, and Whole Foods hired another company to copy the dressing for the 365 brand.

Very helpful!!! Thank you! I've never seen a wholesaler use a separate label name like "365." I've typically only seen them use their own name so I got a little confused.
Are you in the business? What drew you to this website?

I like the 365 Organic brand. I also like "Barbara's" cereals and Amy's packaged products -- particularly the pizzas. When I shop at Safeway I buy their "O Organics" brand when it's an option. I haven't done any research, though, as to the quality of their organic products.

As many around the my office know, I tend to naysay on organic food quite a lot. I tend to decide with my taste buds, regardless of how mny pesticides were sprayed over my food; I don't care if it gives me cancer, It better be yummy :)

One product in the 365 brand that I've found to be consistently top notch is the roasted red peppers red sauce. It's on the top of my list for tasty off the shelf spaghetti sauces. It's the one thing that I've found at whole foods so far that I will inconvenience myself to get.

I'm always happy to have a debate Slaton :)

Let me explain my side of the story. How the organic food situation fits into the heath of the world and humanity in the grand scheme of things is a very complicated beast. I am sure you can agree to that. There are too many splits between the view points of "Organic is the best" or "Organic is a waste" to say with any certainty that either one is correct.

For example, as I understand things, we owe our current world's population to high yield, non-organic farming techniques that were in part created during the Green revolution. Without those techniques we would not have grown by 4 billion living people over the last 60 years. We would have had much more widespread famine and malnutrition through out the world than we did.

Also, as you may know, arable land per capita is being reduced in mainly due to population growth. I just read a study that estimates we'll double in size as a nation by 2050 and would reduce the amount of arable land per capita to 1/3 below what we use to maintain our current diet. That doesn't even take into account the use of land to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Now, none of this directly affects the argument of whether organic practices are worthwhile or not; I certainly think they are. There is a segment of the population that cares enough about the things they put in their body to pay the extra money. Good on them, that's how the market works. Where my above statements due come into play is the studies that regard yield when using organic practices; The results are inconsistent all over the place. Some studies show soy production can be made more efficient using organic practices, but potato production reduced by half. Some show that to support the world's population on organic methods alone we would have to destroy countless ecosystems to build convert enough land into farms, while others claim that no expansion of farmland is necessary.

My point is that it's complicated: To complicated for me to feel confident basing my purchasing habits and money expenditure on a bunch of half-truths from either "side". Given that, I choose to base my purchases off of a different axis. Namely taste, convenience, and affordability. Ecological responsibility doesn't enter into it. I fulfill that responsibility in other ways: I live within walking distance of work (I use virtually zero gasoline directly in my day to day life) and in general I don't consume a whole lot. My vices are video games and the internet, so I do use more electricity that most on leisure, but I feel confident in the assertion that I put less strain on the environment than the average american. Besides, If the U.S. would get over its stigma about nuclear energy that issue would go away.

Now you also mentioned health, which is a good point. I figure heart disease will get me before any health complications due to pesticides. My problems are portion control, lack of exercise, and too much work. None of those get addressed by going out of my way to go organic :)

This is a fascinating and informative discussion. Thanks both Scott & Slaton for the the food for thought. (no pun intended!)

Thanks for the responding Slaton!

You certainly bring up a good point about the economics and competition involved. I think the interesting question there is how organic methods will impact upon industrial methods. I think the only way I could argue that organic agricultural movement would be a net negative influence upon the world was is they were to dominate and contribute to a loss in overall food supply and famine. I think the competition with industrial agriculture is fantastic: The one national-level politician that I've been excited about in my entire life is Ron Paul, so that should give you an idea about the philosophical trust I have in the free market and the importance of competition.

Please note that I separate the concepts of organic agriculture and sustainable agriculture, which is a very important factor in my viewpoint. We don't really know if organic methods are more sustainable as the prevalence of organic production grows. In my opinion, sustainability is a more important and far more worthy goal than organics, but I gather it's your opinion that organic agriculture provides the best chance of reaching that goal. That's fair. I'll let smarter minds validate the methods to reach it, I'm not convinced that ruling out industrial methods is the right approach.

Personally, I'm throwing my towel in with lot that says in the end the organic vs. industrial argument will be a wash. We'll see an equilibrium reached, but in the end it won't be us killing ourselves because we used up the land; it will be something else entirely. I suppose you I can chock that attitude up to misanthropy on my own part :) Given that, I've got more important things (like my own happiness) to worry about, but we've already covered that difference in our stances.

Thanks for talking with me, its been very helpful to me on a self-reflective level. I've cut out paragraphs and reworked this post several times now, and that is always good in my opinion. Part of the benefit for me bashing heads with opposing view points is that It help me challenge myself and grow.

-Scott