<p>At the Whole Foods Market 2013 supplier event this past September in Austin, TX, the company announced it would be launching a comprehensive three-tier rating system for produce and flowers sold in stores in an effort to help shoppers make more informed choices. The mandatory program will display ratings of “good,” “better,” and “best,” recognizing and rewarding organic growers who go beyond organic and Fair Trade certifications.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>As we begin to move toward the program’s launch date this September 2014, debate is heating up over the ban on certain pesticides. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Whole Foods Market has developed a science-based index to measure product performance on important sustainable farming topics. This comprehensive index provides clear standards to growers who can push themselves to achieve the best rating possible. The criterion for the three-tier rating system includes topics such as pesticide use.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>According to a report on NPR, Whole Foods has laid groundwork for what kind of fertilizer the farmers that grow its produce can use. Specifically, the company recently confirmed that the produce rating system will prohibit produce farmed using ‘sludge,’ also known as biosolids. It is a type of fertilizer made from treated municipal waste.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Some groups claim that biosolids are toxic and full of heavy metals, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals and argue that when farmers use of biosolids to nourish their soils, they're putting consumers at risk of getting sick.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">But scientists who study sludge and waste experts say that this form of fertilizer actually delivers big environmental benefits.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Author of the 1995 book Toxic Sludge Is Good For You! Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry and the de facto leader of the sludge opposition is John Stauber.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Last week, one of the three groups Stauber founded, the Center for Media and Democracy,posted an article suppoting the Whole Foods decision and claiming credit for pressuring the retailer into making the decision.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Whole Foods spokeswoman Lindsay Robison tells The Salt that biosolids were banned in the name of transparency and being consistent with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Organic Program, which doesn't allow the material on fields where any certified organic product is grown.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Robison also added that the company's new biosolids ban won't actually impact any of the company's growers because as none of them use the material as far as Whole Foods know.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/01/17/263370333/whole-foods-bans-produce-grown-with-sludge-but-who-wins" target="_new">Whole Foods</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
