Whole Foods Has Quietly Revamped Some 365 Items — Here’s What’s New

Cookie and ice cream lovers, brace yourselves as Whole Foods Market’s 365 brand seems to be mixing up a big change. While they’re not quite tearing up the recipe book, it looks like they’re switching up labels, ingredients, and even which cookies carry the “organic” badge. For plant-based snackers, the rumors are especially tantalizing as several of the revamped cookies appear to be vegan by ingredients, yet they’re still being labeled “vegetarian.” What gives? Let’s dig in.

What’s allegedly changing.

• Some cookies are switching from organic → conventional
  Whole Foods may transition some core cookies like chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and vanilla wafers from organic to conventional lines.
• “New recipe” cookies (already in their apps but might not be on shelves just yet.)
  
  • Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Chocolate Sandwich Cremes
  • Mismatched Sandwich Cremes
  • Vanilla Sandwich Cremes
• New cookie flavors!
  • S’mores Sandwich Cremes
  • Sunflower Butter Sandwich Cremes
  • Organic Mini Graham Bear Cookies
• Their 365 non-dairy line of frozen desserts are moving to oat milk as the base.
  • New flavor pints include: home style vanilla, mango chantilly cake, mint chocolate chip, oatmeal crème cookie, and chocolate chip peanut butter swirl.
  • New novelty items include: strawberry and chocolate almond oatmilk dessert bars and vanilla oatmilk ice cream sandwiches.

Why They’re Labeled “Vegetarian,” and Not “Vegan”

This is a point that often confuses shoppers (and some store staff!) which is how can a product have a purely plant-based ingredient list, but still be marketed (or internally classified) only as “vegetarian”? The answer may come down to cross-contact disclaimers, shared equipment, and their internal labeling rules.

• Shared equipment / cross-contact:
  Even if no animal-derived ingredients are intentionally used, a cookie might be manufactured in a facility or on lines that also process dairy, eggs, or other animal products. If the label includes a “may contain milk/eggs/etc.” or “made on shared equipment” advisory, many retailers (Whole Foods included) will err on the side of calling it just vegetarian.
  
  • This is in line with the stricter internal standards of large chains: they typically require formal documentation of allergen segregation before granting a “vegan” label internally.
  • In earlier observations, some 365 cookies are fully vegan by ingredients, but Whole Foods’ system still lists them as vegetarian most likely because of those advisory statements.
• Liability, consistency, and internal labeling systems:
  Retailers like Whole Foods have standardized product information systems and labeling protocols. If a manufacturer doesn’t outright guarantee “no cross contact with dairy/eggs” in their supplier documentation or QA, a “vegan” flag might be withheld even if the ingredient list is vegan friendly but not certified vegan.
• Consumer transparency:
  From a retailer’s perspective, being conservative in labeling might help prevent backlash or mislabeling if cross contamination is later confirmed so they might prefer to under-promise often.

New Cookie recipes and flavors!

Whether these 365 revamps end up being a sweet surprise or a missed batch, one thing’s clear that Whole Foods is quietly mixing things up. Check your labels, trust your ingredient radar, and buy what’s right for you. I myself will be grabbing some (for research purposes, obviously).