Is Chipotle promoting food woo?

Red Baron Farms said:
Yes, but it is off topic anyway. So it won't matter to anyone here.
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Bummer. It seemed like it might be an interesting story.

what business do you have choosing what other people eat?
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Strawman aside (nobody's choosing what other people eat), help me understand: Are you seriously telling me I have no standing to judge whether a business's marketing strategies are detrimental or beneficial to the society I live in?
 
If there is one piece of idiocy I hate nowdays,it's the whole GMO "Frankenfood" nonsense.
Yes, there are ligitimate concerns about some of what goes into our food,but GMO Is not one of them.
And I suspect if the GMO products were the result of a government program, a lot of the anti GMO people would be a lot quieter.
 
I was part of the pr machinery for the introduction of GM Aubergine in India. The drivel that I had to put up with when arguing with the 'organic' crowd and also watching them try to defend blatant lies was mind numbing.
 
Maintaining that pointing out induced genetic modification is older than human history is equivocation while metaphorical witch hunts over one company's practices are not? Hold a moment or so while I get fresh popcorn.

Mmm . . . . .
 
theprestige said:
Strawman aside (nobody's choosing what other people eat), help me understand: Are you seriously telling me I have no standing to judge whether a business's marketing strategies are detrimental or beneficial to the society I live in?
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I am willing to hear your arguments as to why you think Chipotle's and their marketing strategy is detrimental or beneficial to society.

ETA: I'll even start the debate off by arguing a benefit to society in Chipotle's carnitas policy by quoting one of their suppliers of ethically raised meat:

"In our culture we view the pigs as just so much inanimate protoplasmic structure to be manipulated however cleverly hubris can imagine to manipulate it. And I would suggest that a culture that views its plants and animals in that type of disrespectful, arrogant, manipulative standpoint will view its citizens the same way...and other cultures" Joel Salatin
 
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IIRC, Food Babe thanked Chipotle for their new anti-GMO stance on their Facebook page. 90% of the comments were negative (and some very funny).

FB_IMG_1430496120750_zpselidmpgj.jpg
 
Somebody needs to do a Weird Al version of this for GMOs:



"Turn it on, wind it up, blow it out - GMO!"

"Gonna save all my moneyyy and buy a GMO..."
 
theprestige said:
Once they've committed to an anti-GMO marketing campaign, losing a non-GMO ingredient leaves them with little choice but to make a virtue of necessity, and hope that their anti-GMO target demographic will stay loyal to them for their "integrity" rather than dump them for their lack of non-GMO carnitas.
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"Do the meat and dairy products at Chipotle contain GMOs?

The meat and dairy products we buy come from animals that are not genetically modified. But it is important to note that most animal feed in the U.S. is genetically modified, which means that the meat and dairy served at Chipotle are likely to come from animals given at least some GMO feed. We are working hard on this challenge, and have made substantial progress: for example, the 100% grass-fed beef served in many Chipotle restaurants was not fed GMO grain—or any grain, for that matter. This is an important start, but we recognize that sourcing meat and dairy exclusively from animals never fed GMOs would be a long-term project that would represent further progress in this area."


theprestige said:
Sticking to flawed principles is hardly admirable. But I don't think that's necessarily what they're doing. Another possibility is that they have an anti-GMO marketing campaign and are sticking to it. Their current behavior makes strategic sense in that context alone, without requiring any strong principles to motivate it.
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You have yet to establish that it is an anti-GMO Marketing campaign. The only thing established so far is that they have chosen not to use them.

Nor have you established that any of their stated principles are flawed, or even why you think they are flawed.
 
The media coverage of this has been mostly good. The NYT article was terrible but there was great coverage in even unlikely places like Mother Jones and National Geographic.
"Chipotle will stop serving GMO foods - despite zero evidence they're harmful to eat"
"Why We Can't take Chipotle's GMO Announcement All that seriously"
"Hey, Chipotle! Don't look Now, But It's "Turtles All the Way Down!""
"Chipotle's junk science on GMOs"
"Chipotle's GMO gimmick is hard to swallow"
"Chipotle says its getting rid of GMOs. Here's the problem."
"Chipotle says no to GMOs, yes to irrationality"
"Chipotle Bans Credibility"
"Skip the 1,000-Calorie Burrito and Chipotle’s Dishonest Food Snobbery"
"Why Chipotle Mexican Grill Going GMO-Free is Terrible News"
"What Chipotle's 'Ban' on Genetically Modified Foods Really Means"
"What Chipotle's Ban on GMOs Says About US |The Plate"
"Chipotle: The Strangest Restaurant Menu Ever"
"Illumination: Chipotle Goes GMO Free!*<foot note>"
 
Let me describe a parallel from over 20 years ago. Remember that health and exercise guru with the long pony tail? Well, he was pushing his own home pasta maker.

See, you could control the ingredients. He picks up a store package of dry spaghetti and reads some of the ingredients.

"Thamin! Niacin! What is this stuff?!?!?"

This is the same behavior of the anti-GMO talking heads who are profiting from spreading fear.
 
Red Baron Farms said:
I am willing to hear your arguments as to why you think Chipotle's and their marketing strategy is detrimental or beneficial to society.
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Let's not get ahead of ourselves. You said:

Red Baron Farms said:
As far as the others arguing about Chipotle's decision to eliminate certain GMO products from their menu: There are reasons to legitimately boycott certain GMOs, but even if there wasn't, what business do you have choosing what other people eat? None of your damn business. I won't ever eat a horse, but there is no scientific reason why I couldn't. Still not changing my mind though. If Chipotles wants to supply a demand that has already existed long before their menu change then that's their business and their business will either survive and profit, or dwindle and fail according to their business decisions. You want to boycott them for boycotting certain GMOs, go ahead. But taking a position that they need to use GMOs just because you think they should, is equally ridiculous if not more so.
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I interpret this to mean that you are somehow challenging my standing to criticize Chipotle's anti-GMO policy.

Can you please clarify what you mean by the quoted passage? Right now I'm getting mixed messages from you. On the one hand you say you're willing to listen, but on the other hand you seem to be saying I should shut up about it.
 
theprestige said:
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. You said:


I interpret this to mean that you are somehow challenging my standing to criticize Chipotle's anti-GMO policy.

Can you please clarify what you mean by the quoted passage? Right now I'm getting mixed messages from you. On the one hand you say you're willing to listen, but on the other hand you seem to be saying I should shut up about it.
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Sorry for the confusion I was accepting your comments at face value and honestly will be happy to listen to you.

I did put that comment on a reply to you, but I prefaced it with "As far as the others arguing". That harsh language was not aimed at you. Some people on this forum do not deserve any respectful comments in reply, but I was certainly not including you in that group. It has nothing to do with what position you take, but rather the honesty of your comments, regardless if we agree or not. There are some others on this forum that I have lost all respect for and will not listen to, barely comment, and never civilly. You are not one of them. So again, I am willing to hear your arguments as to why you think Chipotle's and their marketing strategy is detrimental or beneficial to society.
 
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Red Baron Farms said:
"Do the meat and dairy products at Chipotle contain GMOs?

The meat and dairy products we buy come from animals that are not genetically modified. But it is important to note that most animal feed in the U.S. is genetically modified, which means that the meat and dairy served at Chipotle are likely to come from animals given at least some GMO feed. We are working hard on this challenge, and have made substantial progress: for example, the 100% grass-fed beef served in many Chipotle restaurants was not fed GMO grain—or any grain, for that matter. This is an important start, but we recognize that sourcing meat and dairy exclusively from animals never fed GMOs would be a long-term project that would represent further progress in this area."
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It's not principled of them to inform their customers that they don't buy GMO meat when there is no such thing currently available--it's pure marketing. On the other hand, what is an option is for them is to use cheese made without GMO rennet. They conveniently don't mention the use of GMO rennet in this lovely little statement of their "principles." I wonder why.
 
ThunderChunky said:
It's not principled of them to inform their customers that they don't buy GMO meat when there is no such thing currently available--it's pure marketing. On the other hand, what is an option is for them is to use cheese made without GMO rennet. They conveniently don't mention the use of GMO rennet in this lovely little statement of their "principles." I wonder why.
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That's from their website, so obviously they are informing their customers.
 
Red Baron Farms said:
That's from their website, so obviously they are informing their customers.
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Yes, they are 'informing' their customers (which is what said), but it's clearly a marketing tool. There's no such thing as meat or dairy derived from GM animals because there are no approved GM animals. Yet chipotle is implying they go out of their way to purchase such GMO free ingredients. On the other hand, there is such a thing as cheese made with an enzyme produced by genetically modified bacteria. Chipotle uses this cheese but makes no mention of it in their "informational" statement.
 
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