“Vegetarian-Fed” Spin
My sister in law Theresa brought me a gift she thought I would be quite interested in reading. It was a cup from the Chipotle Mexican Grill with commentary on the side entitled Sour Cream, Without The Bitterness. Knowing my passion for discerning fact from fiction, especially when it comes to eating, moving, and thinking well, Theresa was eager to hear what I had to say and I, taken by the information provided, thought I would also share it with you.
Although there are several facts given which I found questionable, I would like, for the sake of brevity to focus on the one I believe is intentionally left to be glossed over. Chipotle, in my opinion, does a nice job of informing us of the potential dangers of Recombinant bovine growth hormone (r-BHG) and how it’s currently still used to increase milk production in the United States despite being banned in other countries. However, they then proceed to describe how Chipotle prefers instead to serve “naturally raised meats that come from vegetarian-fed animals that are humanely raised and never given antibiotics or growth hormones.” Lost and a bit comical in this otherwise great intention is that cows by nature are vegetarian. The average consumer such as myself would be excited rather to hear the cows are “grass fed” but Chipotle doesn’t offer that and I think for good reason. Reports show that 70% of corn grown in the United States and 80% of the soy beans grown in the world are fed to livestock which for cows, is without dispute, unnatural albeit vegetarian.
I applaud Chipotle for their sincere desire to serve “Food With Integrity” and want to believe that they are not trying to intentionally deceive. The facts however can only bear out that “Food With Integrity” can’t be spun by accepting one unnatural practice at the expense of another all while suggesting we are safer for the efforts. Buy local & Eat Well!