The Federal Trade Commission has given Amazon the green light to proceed with its Whole Foods acquisition.

In a statement Wednesday, the FTC said it was no longer pursuing its investigation into whether the $13.7 billion deal would be anticompetitive.

"Of course, the FTC always has the ability to investigate anticompetitive conduct should such action be warranted," said Bruce Hoffman, the acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition.

Amazon announced its acquisition of the organic-foods grocer in June. Whole Foods shareholders approved the deal earlier on Wednesday.

The FTC had looked into a complaint brought by the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, which alleged that Amazon had misled its customers about discounts.

Also, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 1.3 million retail workers, said in a letter to the FTC that Amazon's online model would create unfair competition "with every single grocery store in the nation."