Whole Foods Market To Pay $500K To Settle NY City Overcharging Probe

(RTTNews) - The New York Department of Consumer Affairs or DCA Commissioner Julie Menin announced a settlement agreement with Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM).

The agreement, which settles DCA's investigation into the supermarket's mislabeling of pre-packaged products, requires Whole Foods to pay $500,000; conduct quarterly in-store audits of at least 50 products from 10 different departments at all New York City stores to help ensure products are accurately weighed and labeled, and to correct all inaccuracies.

In the event that DCA inspectors identify mislabeled pre-packaged foods at a Whole Foods Store, that store must immediately remove all mislabeled products and, within 15 days, Whole Foods must check the accuracy of that product's pricing, as well as 20 additional products from the same department, at all New York City stores.

The agreement requires Whole Foods to implement and enforce policies and procedures that require employees not estimate the weight of a package but rather individually weigh each package and only label the package with a label that is based on the weight of the actual contents; and, conduct trainings for all New York City employees who are involved in weighing and labeling products.