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United Natural Foods to Open York, Pennsylvania Distribution Center

April 15, 2008
Largest Distribution Center in the Company's Nationwide Network, Facility Will
                         Pursue LEED(R) Certification

DAYVILLE, Conn., April 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- United Natural Foods, Inc. (Nasdaq: UNFI) (the "Company") today announced plans to relocate its New Oxford, Pennsylvania operations to a new 675,000 square foot distribution facility in the Greenspring Industrial Park in York, Pennsylvania. The York distribution center is expected to commence operations towards the end of 2008 and will be United Natural Foods largest distribution facility in its nationwide network. It will serve as a distribution hub for customers in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.

The leased York facility is a bulk warehouse owned by First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: FR), a leading provider of industrial real estate supply chain solutions.

By enhancing its supply chain capabilities, United Natural Foods will be positioned to enhance service levels to customers in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Additionally, the facility will feature "best in class' warehousing and inventory control systems, including state-of-the-art "Pick-to-Voice" order fulfillment systems.

"We continue to experience growing consumer demand and completion of this new location will help relieve our over-capacity at the current New Oxford facility as well as enhance our overall capacity to grow," said Michael Funk, President and Chief Executive Officer. "The infrastructure investments in our nationwide distribution network will ultimately serve to improve efficiencies, lower our operating costs and provide customers with enhanced product diversity."

"We are excited to expand our operations in Pennsylvania and are pleased to partner with the wonderful community of York," commented Michael Beaudry, President of the Eastern Region, "As always, we continue to be environmentally responsible by using green construction methods and renewable energy sources whenever possible, which in the long run also serve to significantly lower our operating costs."

As part of its commitment to Environmentally Responsible Initiatives, the Company will pursue LEED(R) (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for this facility. LEED(R) is a third party certification program and a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED(R) promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

United Natural Foods has the largest warehouse capacity of any distributor in the natural products industry and, with the planned opening of the York facility, will have approximately 6.2 million square feet of space at 21 distribution centers nationwide.

The Company noted that the distance between the new facility in York, Pennsylvania and its current 247,975 square foot center in New Oxford, Pennsylvania is approximately 23 miles and no jobs are expected to be impacted in the transition. The York facility is expected to employ 350 people.

About United Natural Foods

United Natural Foods, Inc. carries and distributes more than 50,000 products to more than 17,000 customers nationwide. The Company serves a wide variety of retail formats including conventional supermarket chains, natural product superstores, independent retail operators and the food service channel. United Natural Foods, Inc. was ranked by Forbes in 2005 as one of the "Best Managed Companies in America," ranked by Fortune in 2006 and 2007 as one of its "Most Admired Companies," and ranked by Business Ethics as one of its "100 Best Corporate Citizens for 2006." For more information on United Natural Foods, Inc., visit the Company's website at www.unfi.com.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding the Company's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to general business conditions, the impact of competition and our dependence on principal customers, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 6, 2008, and its other filings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and, as such, speak only as of the date made. The Company is not undertaking to update any information in the foregoing reports until the effective date of its future reports required by applicable laws. Any projections of future results of operations should not be construed in any manner as a guarantee that such results will in fact occur. These projections are subject to change and could differ materially from final reported results. The Company may from time to time update these publicly announced projections, but it is not obligated to do so.

SOURCE United Natural Foods, Inc.

CONTACT: AT THE COMPANY: Mark Shamber, Chief Financial Officer,
1-860-779-2800; FINANCIAL RELATIONS BOARD, Joseph Calabrese, General
Information, 1-212-827-3772
Web site: http://www.unfi.com
(UNFI FR)

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