Trader Joe's to Remove Chinese Products

October 2007

Attention shoppers – the organic grocery store chain, Trader Joe’s, has announced that they will stop selling a number of products imported from China by 2008 due to safety concerns. Trader Joe’s will discontinue single-ingredient Chinese product sales in its stores due to recalls involving lead found in toys, unsafe chemicals found in animal food, and toxins used to make toothpaste.

Trader Joe’s, whose Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania store opened in October 2006, will phase out selected Chinese items because many shoppers are concerned about product safety. Consumers are beginning to take matters into their own hands, as sales of home test kits to measure lead content have increased. The Consumer Products Safety Commission has issued a warning that the home tests kits may not provide accurate results.

Other concerned parents and consumers have taken to measuring the levels of industrial chemicals in their bodies. Commonly found toxins may include flame retardants known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and phthalates. Although there are no official laws banning the use of PBDEs in consumer goods, California has recently banned the use of phthalate chemicals in the making of children’s toys.