Whole Foods to drop Chobani brand yogurt

Whole Foods Market has announced plans to stop selling Chobani Greek yogurt by early 2014, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company plans to make room for non-genetically-modified food and organic brands instead.

In March, Whole Foods announced that it would require labels on all genetically modified food (GMOs) by 2018. The market currently sells 250 GMO-free brands, which is "more than any other retailer in North America," according to Whole Foods' website.

For the time being, Whole Foods has no plans to drop other yogurt brands that contain GMOs, such as Chobani rival Fage.

According to a HuffPost/YouGov poll from last spring, 82 percent of Americans think GMO foods should be labeled.

Chobani is one of the most visible yogurt brands in America, and the industry leader for Greek yogurt. Its popularity has soared in recent years, and the company is currently making a big advertising push. Whether the end of its partnership with Whole Foods, the biggest retailer of natural and organic foods in North America, seriously impacts the company's goal to become "more of a household name" remains to be seen.

Chobani gave the following statement to The Huffington Post in response to the news:

Though we have limited distribution within Whole Foods, they have been a wonderful and an important partner of ours over the years. As the number one Greek yogurt brand in America using only natural ingredients, we share an affinity with Whole Foods and its shoppers. We know our fans love buying our products in their stores and we hope to continue our partnership moving forward.

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