Whole Foods Market announced plans to stop selling Chobani Greek yogurt by early 2014, to primarily make room for more organic options and brands with non-genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the market's decision to drop Chobani,attributed to the yogurt company use of milk from cows who have been fed genetically-engineered crops, or G.M.O.'s, like corn and soybeans.
"At this time, Chobani has chosen a different business model, so Whole Foods Market will be phasing Chobani Greek Yogurt out of its stores in early 2014 to make room for product choices that aren't readily available on the market," the market chain said in its statement.
Whole Foods plans on selling more non-GMO, organic and niche yogurts and is committed to offering their customers wider options in high-quality, "including new items shoppers simply can't find anywhere else."
"As the national demand for Greek yogurt has grown, the number of conventional Greek yogurt options has multiplied," Whole Foods stated. "Whole Foods Market challenged its Greek yogurt suppliers to create unique options for shoppers to enjoy, including exclusive flavors, non-GMO options and organic choices."
Earlier this year, activist group, GMO Inside, asked the yogurt company to stop advertising their products as "natural" and "real," unless it stopped their use of milk from cows who have been feed GMO crops.
"GMOs are found in key commodity crops grown in the United States, like corn and soy," Chobani wrote in blog, adding their "non-dairy ingredients have been genetically modified."
In March, Whole Foods began requiring labels on all GMO foods by 2018. According to the Whole Foods website, the company currently carries 250 GMO-brands, which is "more than any other retailer in North America." The market place still carries other brands that use G.M.O.-related ingredients.
Chobani gave a statement in response to the news.
"Though we have limited distribution within Whole Foods, they have been a wonderful and an important partner of ours over the years. As the number one Greek yogurt brand in America using only natural ingredients, we share an affinity with Whole Foods and its shoppers. We know our fans love buying our products in their stores and we hope to continue our partnership moving forward."
Chobani was founded in 2005 by Turkish immigrant, Hamdi Ulukaya, who said that his goal was to democratize Greek yogurt.
"I come from a dairy farming part of Turkey and grew up with yogurt and eating this simple kind of food, and when I came here I couldn't understand why in order to find good-tasting yogurt you have to go to some specialty store to find it," he said. "So the foundation of my business model and my philosophy is that we are going to make yogurt that is delicious, nutritious and accessible to everyone."
