Chew On This, Chipotle!

I went to a screening of the movie Food, Inc. last night hosted by Chipotle -- the Mexican fast-food chain that I was always under the impression was owned by McDonald's but that from what I gleaned through various unreliable sources on the world-wide-web turns out to be urban myth. The movie was exactly what I expected it to be-a really horrifying glimpse into how our food is produced. (I say "our," just to be a team player, but to be clear, it is not how my food is produced because, I am proud to admit, I am a total pain in the ass about what I will and will not eat -- and it is not INC. food.)

Chipotle, which uses the tag-line "food with integrity," and claims to use all organic rice, beans, and veggies in their whopper-sized burritos and tacos (which are wrapped, oddly enough, in flour tortillas -- but that's another story), is hosting these free screenings all over the country in an apparent effort to scare people away from McDonald's drive-though window and up to their cool, industrial-style counters. When the Chipotle reps handed out cards on the way out, one side offered me a free taco, while the other side explained their philosophy of "not exploiting animals, the environment, or people." The card explained that their dairy products come from non-rBGH cows, and that one-third of their beans are raised organically. (Excuse me, not to be a stickler, but... one third?) and that Chipotle uses all sustainably raised meats, which the representative who introduced the film explained applied to all pork and chicken, and 35% of their beef. Yes, thirty-five percent of their beef. Which leaves another 65% unaccounted for...

I first heard that fact when I met a different Chipotle rep in Washington during the Alice Waters-hosted inaugural dinners, and the number stuck out at me at the time, but after seeing the film, and seeing Chipotle get behind the film, it really stuck out. I wondered, if I redeem my card, will my taco be filled with the 35% meat, or the 65% meat-meat that the movie very graphically depicts is from cows that live knee-deep in communal manure, fattened up on a diet of corn, which they were never supposed to eat to begin with, and slaughtered in a filthy way that accounts for just few enough human deaths a year that their lobbyists-turned-politicians are able to let it slide. When I asked the Chipotle representatives about this last night, she efficiently explained that it's not a blend of good meat and bad -- but that depending on what region you live in, you are either being served good meat, or bad. Here in Southern California, she said, where grass-fed meat is not available in the quantities Chipotle demands, they have to resort to the meat from those cows you see in the film, carried by a fork lift to slaughter because for one reason or another they cannot perform basic cow functions, such as walking. So, what you're saying is Chipotle throws everything they believe in out the window so that I can have the option of beef over chicken inside my flour tortilla taco?

If Chipotle really and truly does believe that raising beef the way it is raised and slaughtered according to the American industrial food system is as shameful and detrimental to our well-being as the movie depicts-bad for the planet, bad for the cows, and bad -- maybe even lethal -- for the people who eat them, if Chipotle's green rap is not just a marketing strategy, then I propose something else. Like, how about you just don't offer beef in places where humanely-raised beef is not available? I am not going to lie and say that I understand business, or even the intricacies of this particular issue about beef. But I do understand integrity, and offering something you claim to believe to be bad on a variety of levels just smells funny.

Follow Carolynn Carreño on Twitter: www.twitter.com/carolynncarreno

Comments

[Halsey]

06:35 PM on 07/29/2009

Not sure my post will go through..I don't "swear"...but gosh..nothing gets posted..but...I made a, for me, moral decision years ago..that I just could not eat animals...If a bear was chasing me...and I had a rifle..sure..I'd shoot it...and if Bambi charged...hasta la vista fawn...but..when you see the celophane...and can't get "downer" cows...or sick pigs, or crippled chickens out of your mind..the ruse is up...sure it's healthier...I get plenty of protein from legumes, etc... I can't bare the ongoing suffering.

I don't try to "force" vegetarianism on meat eating friends..I had to reach my own decision..as do they...but once in a blue moon..I will forward (like 1 time a year..really)...a video..like the downer cows on forklifts here in California...headed for school kids lunches...to a PERSON...they replied..
"I can't watch"... yet...the reddish gray stuff in the celophane...still ends up in their grocery bag... I hope change is coming...it may well be...(except now the developing world WANTS McDonalds)...but one country at a time...darn it all...

[hollace]

05:59 PM on 07/28/2009

some of these chains use the lowest grade of meat . i think its called cutter canner I know a butcher who used to call it dead on the hoof. Can anyone confirm?

[CArnold]

03:48 PM on 07/23/2009

A couple of points to clarify in this piece. Chipotle has never claimed to "use all organic rice, beans, and veggies." We do not. An increasing percentage of our beans is organically grown, and we are using increasing amounts of locally grown produce when it is seasonally available. As of now, more than 60 percent of our beef is naturally raised (as is all of our pork and our chicken). It would be 100 percent if the supply was available. It is not. There is no switch we can throw and be serving all naturally raised meat and organic or local produce. The supplies just aren't there to meet our needs. But remember, we operate nearly 900 restaurants and serve a half a million customers each day. The commitment we have made is to serve food made with more sustainable ingredients and we have made tremendous progress on that quest over the last decade, and now serve more naturally raised meat than any restaurant in the world (more than 60 million pounds this year), as well as rBGH-free dairy and increasing amounts of local and organic produce. We have never professed to being perfect, only to keep trying to get better. In order to continue on this path, our business must remain successful; that is the only way we can continue investing in these better ingredients. Pulling beef from our restaurants where we cannot get supply of naturally raised beef would undermine our success.

-Chris Arnold (Chipotle spokesman)

[nemain]

07:19 PM on 07/22/2009

go.dam.it can't anyone learn how to tell the truth anymore?!!! No more chipolte for me...thanks for the article!

[Mercer Cook]

04:22 PM on 07/22/2009

Its clear that Chipotle is really dedicated to humanely and sustainably raised meat- as long as it does not cut into their profit margins. And even their "sustainable" meat does not, necessarily, ensure high quality; they could be 'free range' chickens that never set foot outside. I will not try and say whether or not Chipotle is knowingly or intentionally participating in inhumane animal policies, only that, to truly live up to their motto, they are going to have to reassess the way they do business and decide which is truly more important to them; their integrity, or their profit margins.

P.S., Thank you for informing me that Chipotle is not owned by McD's, I was under that impression also...

[MNinWI]

10:43 AM on 07/22/2009

Their explanation for the 65% sounds bogus to me. Frozen meats are shipped all over the country to various food chains every day but they are saying they only use beef that is raised locally? Does that sound truthful to you? I rarely eat fast food-don't like it because I I feel I have fed my face but not my body & it often makes me sick but I did like Chipotle even tho I haven't had it in a couple of years. Corn anymore sends me into a horrible tailspin that once put me in the hospital & I blame GMO's for that. I hate that corn has to be removed from my diet. I have to give you kudos for being able to sit thru that film-it has to be horrifying.