Does Chipotle Use CAFO Meat?
By Ken
Posted: July 7, 2009
Posted: July 7, 2009
Chipotle Mexican Grill is offering free viewings of Food Inc. at local theaters. How nice … considering they advertise they buy some of their meat from Harris Ranch, which operates an enormous 800-acre, 100,000-head-of-cattle feedlot in Central California. Check out this map of the operation. You can even zoom in to see the cattle.
Harris Ranch feeds its cattle a veggie diet with good old American corn. The same thing Food Inc. disdains.
Mary Said,
July 8, 2009 @ 9:58 am
I can’t understand why a restaurant would essentially bite the hand that feeds and support a movie that bashes agriculture. Where are our priorities in this country? With movies like Food Inc. they can influence people to drive agriculture out of the country. Just think of all the food problems then. And organic products? Lots of salmonella problems there with fertilizer being raw manure. That’s where the spinach tainting came from.
Sunflower Sue Said,
July 8, 2009 @ 11:08 am
I feel little bit better about Chipotle meat now that I know that at least some of it is coming from feedlots. The livestock are generally much healthier when raised in a carefully monitored system like that. Too bad they feel it necessary to bad-mouth the very people who supply their food. The Food Inc guys said consumers should vote with their pocketbooks, so no more Chipotle for me and I LOVE that place!! Here is a good commentary http://tinyurl.com/mnwn5o
Heather Said,
July 9, 2009 @ 10:49 pm
Where does Chipotle advertise their use of Harris Ranch beef? And, assuming they ever did business with Harris Ranch, when was the last purchase? It seems pretty clear from their website that Chipotle has transitioned away from the big bad CAFOs and is now using better quality meat, like that grown by Niman Ranch. If you have actual sources and proof (a satellite picture of Cowschwitz proves nothing) that Chipotle purchases from CAFOs, then by all means share it. Otherwise, stop adding to the problem by spreading false information. We, the consumers, are interested in having an intelligent discussion about our food system. Defensive rants that offer no facts or sources appear to be nothing more than retaliation against those trying to encourage a useful dialogue. This is precisely why so many consumers do not trust big agriculture.
Ken Said,
July 10, 2009 @ 12:51 pm
On the Chipotle Web site, go to “F.W.I.” and then “What’s Where” and click on the beef icon. While their guidelines do not include many of the issues raised by Food Inc., I do not want to imply that I support Food Inc.’s approach. We just find it a little ironic.
Mary Said,
July 11, 2009 @ 12:04 pm
They have to use large farms to keep their supply of meat. Having people with 4 back yard cows will not do the trick like the Slow Food movement pushes. Large farms aren’t always bad at all. Consider how lucky we are to have a vast amount of food available. It’s up to people to make choices of what food they eat–eat fresh veggies, fruits and meat. And exercise! Quit blaming the world for obesity problems (to anyone who would ever say that corn is making people obese).
El Dragón Said,
July 23, 2009 @ 12:13 pm
Chipotle hasn’t purchased natural beef from Harris Ranch since April. Weird questions remain…
http://www.fairfoodfight.com/blog/el-drag%C3%B3n/el-drag%C3%B3n-asks-chipotle-tough-questions