The Honest Weight Food Co-op (HWFC) was established as a buying club in 1976 to provide natural foods at low cost to its members. On March 1, 1977, a store at 112 Quail Street in Albany, New York, opened as a community-owned and -operated retail food store, and provided products to the general public. At a general membership meeting on May 16, 1977, an official Food Policy was adopted. When the Bylaws for the HWFC were adopted in 1980, the Food Policy was incorporated into the Bylaws. For many years, with small adjustments and interpretations by referendum, the Food Policy continued to guide buying practices.

In 1995, HWFC moved to a much larger store at 484 Central Avenue, Albany, and within four years became a $4 million business. A committee of members tasked to update the bylaws in 1999 felt that the natural foods industry had changed so much that the food policy was no longer sufficiently detailed to provide generally agreed upon guidelines. The store had expanded sales far beyond its original core constituencies. New and dubious agricultural and food preservation practices such as biotechnology and food irradiation threatened the availability of basic food products. Natural foods had become a growth industry and mainstream food manufacturers with lower standards rapidly absorbed many of the original producers. The food distribution system consolidated in the same way. By 2001, almost all of the cooperative warehouses had closed and retail co-ops were purchasing from a single publicly-traded company.

In response to this changing environment, the food policies in the revised Bylaws adopted in 2003 were reduced to core concepts. The Bylaws stipulated that a "Food and Product Manual" be written for approval by the Membership. The concepts are grounded in a number of governing documents including HWFC's "Mission Statement", the "Bylaws", and the "Statements of Purpose." Although these core concepts form the basis of the manual, the task is made more difficult when the various mandates conflict when evaluating a product on an individual basis. The food and product selection guidelines listed at left are used to inform buyers when making difficult decisions regarding the product line.

Continue to Section 2: Mission Statement