Is Chocolate a Whole Foods compliant item?

Hey all,

Are Hershey's Chocolate Chips considered Whole Foods compliant? What is the definition of Whole Foods? In order to claim Whole Foods compliant, does one have to be certified?

Thanks! 

I think Hershey's makes too many varieties of chocolate chips to give a blanket yes/no answer.  I haven't heard "Whole Foods" as a defined food item like you ask, I'm speculating you're referring to Whole Foods as the retail brand.  They probably led the charge years ago that other retailers are following, but they have a list of over 300 banned ingredients you cannot use in any of your ingredients for foods sold to them.

Food Ingredient Quality Standards | Whole Foods Market

This list is not encompassing of all other supplier requirements.

https://www.walmart....RxoCj58QAvD_BwE

These, for example. 

You are right. I am referring to Whole Foods as the retail brand. 

Those look good to me from an ingredient standpoint.  One of the cases where I'm finding CoPilot/AI helpful is prompting it to confirm it's seeing a list (such as the banned ingredients), then pasting in a list of ingredients and asking it to check the list against it.  It'll return a line-by-line check confirming.  Going national brand on ingredients like this can be a pain cost-wise, but it's almost a slam dunk when you're buying from a supplier who also sells to the retailer.

I've got at least 4 retail customers with such lists, and over 100 non-fresh items we incorporate into our finished products.  I spot check the AI of course, but being able to create one document with all my customer's banned ingredients, then have it check my spec files against my banned list has been a time saver.