The Latest on Our Reusable Bags
December 14, 2010
You may have heard some recent press coverage about potential lead levels in reusable shopping bags. Whole Foods Market bags were not part of the study and are not part of any withdrawal. As you know, reusable bags are an important part of Whole Foods Market’s commitment to the environment, so we immediately started reviewing third-party testing results on our own bags and have not found any issues.
Whole Foods Market independently sent reusable shopping bags for lab testing from our top suppliers this month, and the results came back well below the Consumer Product Safety Act allowance for lead. Some of the bags tested are pictured below; we will post photos of additional tested bags as those become available.
Our understanding is that the report did not identify a food safety issue for those bags in question and that lead from those bags appears to be in a form that is not easily extracted or "leached" out. News outlets also reported that there is less concern that the lead would easily rub off on food when the bags are new, but there could be a concern as bags wear down because lead could accumulate in landfills and create a potential environmental hazard.
Rest assured that we will continue to stay on top of this issue for our customers and for our environment.
