Whole Foods In Settlement Over Pricing

   (FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 12/29/15) 
   By Keiko Morris 

Whole Foods Market Inc. has agreed to pay $500,000 and enforce certain policies to settle allegations that its city stores were overcharging customers for prepackaged foods, the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs said Monday.

The agreement stems from an investigation by the consumer affairs department into the mislabeling of prepackaged products in Whole Foods' New York City locations, according to the department. The agency's investigation didn't find evidence of "systematic or intentional misconduct" by the company, Whole Foods said in a statement.

The settlement also requires the supermarket chain to adopt actions, including quarterly audits and training around accurate pricing and labeling. Whole Foods said the audits and some of the policies already had been in place.

The agreement "will help to ensure New Yorkers are better protected from overcharging," said Julie Menin, Department of Consumer Affairs Commissioner, in a statement.

Last summer, the consumer agency revealed the results of an investigation it said showed repeated instances of mislabeled prepackaged products. In some cases, labels on packages had the incorrect weights for the product, it said. In other cases, Whole Foods charged an equal amount of money for products that were priced per-package even though their weights weren't the same, according to the agency probe.

In its statement, Whole Foods noted the company already has put in place a pricing-accuracy policy refunding customers for any item inadvertently mispriced, third-party auditing and a training program for employees.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 29, 2015 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.