Monday, June 1, 2015

Chipotle says "No" to GMOs

As of April 2015, Chipotle is officially the first fast food restaurant in America to ever use food that is non-GMO, (meaning genetically modified). I believe that this major step Chipotle took will begin to also change other fast food corporations, especially because Chipotle is so popular; you can find one pretty much every where you go in America.

On their website, they have a great motto, or slogan, for their campaign: "Food with Integrity. G-M-OVER IT." If you read further down, Chipotle's mission statement lays it all out on floor, explaining that they "are on a never-ending journey to source the highest quality ingredients we can find. Over the years, as we have learned more about GMOs, we've decided that using them in our food doesn't align with that vision." In my opinion, this seems like a slap in the face to all other fast food restaurants in the nation. It's as if Chipotle is saying that because they've stepped up their game to better their food for the people, none of the other restaurants care enough to change their decision of ingredients for the health and safety of their customers.

On Chipotle's website, they do a good job informing the public about what GMOs are and where you would find them, and about the health and environmental impacts it has, but there are three specific statements they decided to pull out that enhance this idea that Chipotle has set a very high bar for other fast food restaurants.
1. Scientists are still studying the long term implications of GMOs.
2. The cultivation of GMOs can damage the environment.
3. Chipotle should be a place where people can eat food made with non-GMO ingredients.

I believe Chipotle made a positive change to their image and food, but again, there's this idea of always needing to improve things, always continue to set the bar higher and higher. Yet again, this is an example of the American ideal that the more you improve and work harder, you'll be more successful and make more money. What I'm struggling with is that is this a positive or negative to live by?

1 comment:

  1. Hi Camel Bear.

    A great topic to interrogate! And I always appreciate the food references, as you are well aware :)

    I like the fact that you connected this to American ideas ("there's this idea of always needing to improve things, always continue to set the bar higher and higher"), but I think you could be a bit more critical of Chipotle's tactics. After all, look at #1 from their website. Do we really know the truth about GMOs, or might this simply be a case of clever marketing?

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