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Whole Foods Market Joins Brown Bag Naturals to Sponsor L.A. Alliance Public Charter School's Lunch Program

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.-(Business Wire)-September 3, 2008 - Whole Foods Market^® (NASDAQ:WFMI) (www.wholefoodsmarket.com) today announced that it has partnered with Brown Bag Naturals (www.brownbagnaturals.com) to sponsor a school lunch program at College Ready Academy High School No. 7, an L.A. Alliance Public Charter School. Over the last several months the program delivered hundreds of fresh, all-natural lunches to the students of the school's summer program.

Brown Bag Naturals is a Los Angeles-based company devoted to promoting nutrition and fighting obesity in school-age children. The all-natural lunches are made fresh each morning and delivered directly to schools across Southern California. Besides fresh fruits and vegetables, the lunches include great-tasting natural and organic foods free of hydrogenated oils, artificial preservatives or additives. The lunch menus have been reviewed by nutritionists to ensure that every meal contains quality proteins, whole grains, and seasonal fruit and vegetables. Whole Foods Market is one of several “Pantry Partners” that help support delivery of these nutritious lunches to public charter schools in Los Angeles.

"Whole Foods Market believes passionately in supporting the communities we serve," says Ashley Gibbons, Marketing Supervisor at Whole Foods Market in Plaza El Segundo. "Like our friends and neighbors, we have a growing concern about childhood nutrition and obesity. Our partnership with Brown Bag Naturals will give us an opportunity to provide a more natural alternative for lunch to our community students, while expanding the choices and repertoire they are familiar with as they begin to make their own decisions about quality and taste."

Adam Zauder, CEO and founder of Brown Bag Naturals, said, "the severe budget constraints in most public schools make it difficult to bring in fresh and natural meals. As a consequence, too many students are having to eat high-calorie, pre-processed, preservative-laden foods. Partnerships with companies like Whole Foods Market allow us to deliver healthful lunches today while educating students so that they can make smart eating decisions in the future."

About Whole Foods Market

Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market (www.wholefoodsmarket.com) is the world’s leading natural and organic foods supermarket and America’s first national certified organic grocer. In fiscal year 2007, the company had sales of $6.6 billion and currently has more than 270 stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The Whole Foods Market motto, “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet”™ captures the company’s mission to find success in customer satisfaction and wellness, employee excellence and happiness, enhanced shareholder value, community support and environmental improvement. Whole Foods Market, Fresh & Wild^TM, and Harry’s Farmers Market® are trademarks owned by Whole Foods Market IP, LP. Wild Oats® and Capers Community Market^TM are trademarks owned by Wild Marks, Inc. Whole Foods Market employs more than 53,000 Team Members and has been ranked for 11 consecutive years as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America by FORTUNE magazine.

About Brown Bag Naturals

Brown Bag Naturals brings healthful eating to campus and makes it fun, by providing wholesome and nutritious versions of foods kids love – like chicken nuggets, quesadillas and turkey hoagies – prepared with the highest quality natural and organic ingredients. The Company’s lunches, which can be ordered online up to a month in advance, are delivered directly to school and contain seasonal fruits and vegetables, whole grains and quality proteins. Founded in 2005, Brown Bag Naturals is expanding rapidly throughout Southern California, with plans to enter additional markets during the 2008-09 school year. For more information, please visit www.brownbagnaturals.com.

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