We’ve long been fans of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) because they pioneered the use of organic, locally grown ingredients in fast food.
Now, they are leading again, this time by revealing the GMOs that lurk in their food. So far they only post them on their website, saying there’s no room on store menus.
Chipotle says its working to eliminate GMOs but until it does it wants to be a model for transparency, showing critics that GMO labels are a good idea.
"It’s not a concern to us that we’re going to lose business over this," spokesperson Chris Arnold told Businessweek. "If anything, it engenders more trust when you’re more forthcoming about the food you serve. Any downside there may be … is going to be eclipsed by the upside with being transparent."
"Our goal is to eliminate GMOs from Chipotle’s ingredients, and we’re working hard to meet this challenge. For example, we recently switched our fryers from soybean oil to sunflower oil. Soybean oil is almost always made from genetically modified soybeans, while there is no commercially available GMO sunflower oil. Where our food contains currently unavoidable GM ingredients, it is only in the form of corn or soy."
On its website, Chipotle lists the ingredients for all its foods and specifies whether they are local, organic, GMO, contain hydrogenated oil or preservatives, and meat and dairy from responsibly-raised animals.
GMOs are in easy to pick out – they’re in products that contain soy and corn – the vast majority of which are genetically modified in the US (unless they are certified organic).
Whole Foods is also labeling GMOs on all its products.
Chipotle is also among the first restaurants in NYC to sign up for its new restaurant composting program.
Here is Chipotle’s ingredient list:
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