Whole Foods will stop profiting from prison inmates

Whole Foods has decided to stop selling items produced by prison inmates following a public backlash.

The company says the items, which include tilapia, trout, and goat cheese, will be removed from stores by April 2016, the AP reports.

The items in question are sourced through Colorado Correctional Industries, or CCI, a division of Colorado's department of correction.

Inmates who are members of CCI are paid meager wages as low as 74 cents a day, according to the AP's report.

Whole Foods has purchased food from the program to "help people get back on their feet and eventually become contributing members of society," Whole Foods spokesman Michael Silverman told the AP.

According to CCI's statistics, inmates who get at least six months of experience with CCI are far more likely to stay out of jail for at least a year following their release.

But critics say the program is exploiting inmates for cheap labor.

Whole Foods made the decision to pull inmate-produced products from stores following a protest regarding the practice at a Texas store, according to the AP.