If you ’re a buff of oversized burritos or have any sort of judgement on GMO nutrient labeling , you ’ve in all probability heard the big news program this week from fast - food mountain range Chipotle : They ’re live on GMO - free .
Chipotle has been on a long journeying to appeal the green foodie through its “ Food With Integrity ” shibboleth . It has made a commitment to humane heart production , prioritizing farms that raise animals with tolerable space and use of goods and services antibiotic drug judiciously . In 2013 , it became the first national restaurant mountain range to voluntarily disclose which of their solid food contain genetically modified ingredients . Now , in an feat to “ be a place where hoi polloi can eat food with non - GMO ingredients ” they ’re swap out their GM - maize flour for a non - GM variety and interchange genetically modified soybean oil with sunflower seed crude and rice bran oil colour .
This big change by a major player in the libertine - food for thought market is being look at by some as a win . Chipotle ’s decision surely hasbrought the GMO debate to the public eye — and how could any organic supporter not find that jolly nerveless ? However , to some , the move smells too much of a PR ploy . To quell both the dreamer and the faultfinder on this matter , we want to address some of the big skepticism .
1. GMOs Are Still Lurking at Chipotle
As Gregory Jaffe , conductor of biotechnology at the Center for Science in the Public Interest , mentions inan article onLive Science , you ca n’t walk into Chipotle and eat with abandon , thinking that you ’re doing sustainable farming a party favour . Chipotle will still be sell sodas , which are made with GM ingredients , such as high - fructose corn sirup — though as a conscious consumer , you were likely already well - cognizant of that . Not as well - known , though , is the fact many of the animals used for meat are deplete GM feed , but if you ask me , that ’s pointing to a much bigger give-and-take we need to have about our solid food system at - large .
2. Non-GMO Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Safe
GMO or not , all nutrient is dependent to intellectual nourishment - safety guidepost set forth by the Union government and its regulating agency . So , no , the GM - flour tortillas did n’t send you draw to the hospital and neither will the non - GM tortillas . ( as well , if made in unsafe conditions , each one has the potential to . ) The bigger issue is the transparence ( or lack thereof ) in the GM industry , accord to Marion Nestle , a intellectual nourishment systems advocate and professor of in the Department of Nutrition , Food Studies , and Public Health at New York University . Nestle pen in her “ Food Politics ” web log : The GM industry has campaign labeling since 1994 when the FDA first approved GM food for thought for production . Even then , there was plenty of grounds that the public want these food labeled . But the industriousness is still pouring million of dollars into fighting labeling initiatives . ”
3. GMO Technology Is Safe
Despite the argument that science deem transmissible modification assafe technology , the reality is thatnot all scientist and health pro agree . Thefirst genetically modified foodswere introduced to consumers in the early 90s , and research is still being done to show the core on public and environmental wellness . However , late reports do bespeak to detrimental longsighted - condition effects of conventional farming exercise used to cultivate GM crops , such as theWorld Health Organization ’s reportshowing link between the herbicide glyphosate and Crab .
4. Chipotle’s GMO-Free Campaign Is a Marketing Ploy
Um , of course it is . The fact that business are constantly doing unexampled and bizarre things to drum up line of work is not word . I do n’t get wind anyone complaining about the Dairy Queen Blizzard ( a merchandising gambit from 1985 ) . The realism is , Chipotle has been at body of work to clean up their nutrient forquite awhile now , probably because there ’s market demand for it , but hopefully , also because they want to participate in a food system that encourages healthy environmental , agricultural and economic practice .
So what do you imagine : Do you support the determination of Chipotle to make their closely 1,000 - calorie burrito GMO - free ?
