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The explosive diarrhea outbreak is exposing the system: Whole Foods has the same lettuce supplier as Walmart and Taco Bell but charges ~60% more. The supply chains behind national “health” stores and your cheapest big box retailer are often the exact same. Taylor Farms supplies lettuce to places like Taco Bell, Walmart, and Whole Foods simultaneously. And they control over 57% of the entire chopped salad kit market in America, producing roughly 1 in 3 salads consumed across the US and Canada. The story goes further than lettuce. Sprouts Farmers Market, a chain built entirely on the image of small farm sourcing and natural food integrity, confirmed to a customer that Tyson and Perdue supply its private label chicken. The same Tyson that processes roughly one in every five pounds of all meat sold in the United States. The same Perdue whose supplier was documented with birds too sick to walk. Industrial suppliers are often hiding behind the “Farmers Market” label. The premium you pay at grocers like Whole Foods or Sprouts is not always buying you a different supply chain which is why I’ve permanently switched to buying from local independent farmers in my area on Localize. The food system revolution is just beginning.