Whole Foods Settles N.Y. Overpricing Allegations

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.

"While Whole Foods Market refused to consider the DCA's initial demands of $1.5 million, we agreed to $500,000 in order to put this issue behind us so that we can continue to focus our attention on providing our New York City customers with the highest level of quality and service," Whole Foods said.

Write to Keiko Morris at Keiko.Morris@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 28, 2015 20:47 ET (01:47 GMT)

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