Wegmans among EPA Safer Choice Partner of the Year honorees

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) honored Wegmans Food Markets as one of 21 organizations to earn a Safer Choice Partner of the Year Award on Monday, recognizing the company’s commitment to retailing Safer Choice products.

The Safer Choice program allows products to use its logo on their labels after they have submitted their ingredients list to the EPA and have been found to meet strict health and environmental standards. The program also works with companies to find safer alternatives to chemicals used in their products.

Wegmans achieved its Safer Choice Retailer award through a series of cleaning products that utilize safer ingredients. The company introduced the cleaning products in 2014.

“If someone asked me, when I first started, if we could successfully launch a line of products that was safer for people and the environment, effective, and priced attractively, I would have told you it would be impossible,” Dave Tantillo, Wegmans category merchant for Cleaning Products, said. “But Safer Choice standards gave us direction. Combining that with our committed supplier, we had a formula for success. And our customers are the real winners.”