An October 2026 report published by the consumer watchdog group Farm Forward revealed the following details regarding the sourcing and contamination risks for Whole Foods private label chicken. Three of the six Perdue slaughter plants confirmed to supply Whole Foods failed the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) performance standards for Salmonella contamination over the past year. While Whole Foods and Perdue market their poultry with “No Antibiotics Ever” claims, the Salmonella strains identified in the testing showed remarkably high rates of drug resistance. While the report highlights widespread, high-level Salmonella bacteria presence at the processing plants, there is currently no mandatory federal recall for the 365-brand chicken.
Whole Foods Market built its 365 chicken brand on a commitment to “better meat” standards and ustomers pay a premium for that promise. Implicit is that it’s a safer product, and not a product that may carry high rates of the most dangerous forms of salmonella. This investigation was designed to evaluate whether Whole Foods’ quality claims hold up, based on data from processing plants. Whole Foods has not issued a product recall or changed its sourcing, primarily because the presence of Salmonella in raw poultry is not legally classified as a product defect under current USDA rules
