Trader Joe’s is widely viewed as a “green” company, attracting droves
of eco-minded consumers who view its cozy, Hawaiian-themed stores as a
cheaper alternative to Whole Foods or the neighborhood co-op. But as

Sustainable
Industries points out, it’s difficult to know how sustainable its operations
really are—the company is “notoriously tight-lipped” about where its
store-brand products come from.

A report on organic dairies from the Cornucopia Institute,
a sustainable-agriculture watchdog group, warns consumers to be
vigilant about the explosive growth in these sorts of “organic” store
brands. Private-label organics like those in Trader Joe’s “seem to
contradict what many thought the organic movement was all about:
consumers understanding where their food comes from and how it is
produced,” the report states. The Trader Joe’s brand of milk, for
example, claims to be organic—but it won’t disclose which dairies it buys from. Ditto for
the soybeans it uses in its brands of soy milk,
tofu, and other products. And a recent report found that its store brand
of veggie burgers are made using hexane-extracted soy protein.

“It’s a delicate balance for Trader Joes’s,” notes

Sustainable
Industries, “because while its customers want low prices for
‘natural’ grub, typically part of the value customers get out of Trader
Joe’s is not just that its prices are low, but that they’re low for
products that are perceived to be of high value.”

On a few occasions, customers have demanded certain standards:
Widespread requests for cage-free eggs and GMO-free foods have been met
throughout the company’s stores—according to Trader Joe’s, at least.
“Neither claim is backed by a third-party auditing mechanism,” according
to

Sustainable Industries.