Chipotle Mexican Grill will become the first big restaurant chain to start serving only food free of ingredients that are genetically engineered. The chain made its announcement on Monday.
Steve Ells the co-CEO and founder of Chipotle said the decision was another step toward visions help by the company of changing how people think about and eat rapid serve food.
He added that just because the food is served quickly does not mean is must contain inexpensive raw ingredients, that are processed with fillers, preservatives, artificial colors, flavors and stabilizers.
Grocers are also moving to give consumers additional products that are free of any ingredients that are genetically altered. The cases and shelves at Whole Foods will be free of any products with such ingredients within the last 3 years and at Walmart, the selection of their organic foods is expanding. By law, organic foods must be free of all genetic alteration.
Even large food companies have started moving to take GMOs or genetically modified organisms from their products or have their products labeled so the consumer knows which ones have and which ones did not have GMOs.
Whether other large restaurant chains are going to follow the lead of Chipotle is uncertain. The increased demand to have such products has caused them to become more expensive and more difficult to obtain in the quantities that are needed by big business.
Ridding the entire supply chain of components that are genetically modified is a difficult task. They are in cornstarch, baking powder and a number of ingredients used as coloring agents, preservative and added in vitamins, as well as in such commodities as soy oils, sugar, canola and corn meal.
Chipotle at times has run short of its beef and late last year announced it would not be able to supply its restaurants with pork after the chain found out a supplier failed to meet the standards the restaurant has for raising pigs.
