Field Trip: Whole Foods Redwood City

When: Year round
Where: Whole Foods Redwood City (1250 Jefferson Ave, Redwood City, CA 94062)
Who: K-6th grade, recommend groups smaller than 15. 
Cost: Free

Although Whole Foods is a national chain, it was pleasantly easy to arrange a tour of their local stores. When our group heard that a tour had been arranged, signups filled up quickly.. perhaps with the hope of store samples? We were happily not disappointed there, and we also got to see behind the scenes and learn about food handling.

We "started with dessert" by going behind the scenes of the bakery. The guide explained how the bakers came in early in the morning (3 am!) to start the bread which is baked daily.

Ready for morning commuters

They let us go behind the tantalizing display of bread to see the workers at their craft. We saw a confectioner decorating a cake, trays of prepared pastries and a large convection oven where entire racks could be wheeled inside to hold warm.

Buttercream frosting with chocolate sprinkles next

An oven the height of a room!

 Next to the bakery kitchen was the Prepared Foods area. This is where salads, soups, and other food items are prepared. This was a hive of activity, as large quantities of food were prepared and some put into a blast chiller so they could be cooled down quickly for storage in the cold room. The operative word here was safety - there were rules for how long prepared foods could sit outside, how long they could be in storage, as well as minimum and maximum temperatures for storage.

Cold room where food is kept below 40F

After a walk through the cold room, it was nice to re-emerge in the store where the pizzas were made. They prepared some pizzas to share between the students which went over well.

Team members from the cheese department and meat department also came to speak with us. Students asked questions about selecting cheese, and learned about Global Animal Partnership's Animal Welfare standard which Whole Foods supports and indicates on its labelling - the numbers range from 1 to 5 and the higher the number, the more natural (as opposed to factory farming) the animal's environment.

Meat department photo courtesy of Whole Foods

The fish department was a few steps away. By this time, younger kids were starting to get wriggly but everyone snapped back to attention when a team member brought out an octopus specimen to touch. Almost everyone took the challenge!  Our guide also explained how to pick fresh fish: clear eyes, red gills. 

Fresh octopus, anyone?

Last stop was the produce department. It was fascinating to hear the steps Whole Foods takes to achieve organic grocer certification, e.g. separate areas for organic and conventional produce unless the organic product is bagged, placing organic produce on higher shelves than conventional. The latter is a good example of how strict the standards are: if a conventional orange falls into a crate of organic oranges, the entire crate of organic oranges is now considered conventional because of the possibility of chemical contamination. With the places reversed (organic falling into conventional), only the errant orange is written off as conventional.

Green labels indicate organic produce - notice the organic on top and the conventional equivalents below.

We had one last behind the scenes peek in the cold room where produce was kept, and some was washed with antimicrobial liquid before being cut for 'fruit to go' boxes that we enjoy. The guide finished the tour by distributing fresh clementines, bringing our tour to a sweet and satisfying conclusion.

Worker cutting pineapple in the cold room - he made it seem so easy

This was a great tour and members of our group are already planning the next visit. The stores in our area (San Mateo and Redwood City) are eager to host field trips and everyone was very patient and knowledgeable. Our students walked away with a full stomach (thanks to all those samples - cookies, pizza, cheese, beef jerkey, smoked salmon, and clementines) as well as an appreciation for all the people who make it possible for us to eat so conveniently and well.