Exhibit 31.1
CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO SECTION
302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002
I, Steven H. Townsend, in my capacity as the Chief Executive Officer of
United Natural Foods, Inc. (the "Company"), hereby certify that:
1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of the Company;
2. Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any
untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect
to the period covered by this quarterly report; and
3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all
material respects the financial condition, results of operations and
cash flows of the Company as of, and for, the periods presented in
this quarterly report.
4. The Company's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934, as amended) for the Company and we have:
(a) designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under
our supervision, to ensure that material information relating
to the Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is
made known to us by others within those entities, particularly
during the period in which this quarterly report is being
prepared;
(b) evaluated the effectiveness of the Company's disclosure
controls and procedures and presented in this quarterly report
our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered
by this quarterly report based on such evaluation; and
(c) disclosed in this quarterly report any change in the Company's
internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
the Company's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially
affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
Company's internal control over financial reporting.
5. The Company's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based
on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
reporting, to the Company's auditors and the audit committee of the
Company's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
functions):
(a) all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
design or operation of internal control over financial
reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
Company's ability to record, process, summarize and report
financial information; and
(b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management
or other employees who have a significant role in the
Company's internal control over financial reporting.
/s/ Steven H. Townsend
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Steven H. Townsend
Chief Executive Officer
June 9, 2005
Note: A signed original of this written statement has been provided to the
Company and will be retained by the Company and furnished to the
Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff upon request.