The Chain Gang

Chipotle’s the First Restaurant Chain to Voluntarily Label GMOs

The company's moving away from soybean oil, which is usually made from GMOs.
The company’s moving away from soybean oil, which is usually made from GMOs. Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

Whole Foods, Ben & Jerry’s, and now Chipotle are making a mainstream push for the labeling of genetically modified food. Chipotle’s the first U.S. restaurant chain to voluntarily label items that contain GMOs on its website. This is an impressive move: While many of its ingredients are organic and locally sourced, several prominent ones — like barbacoa, chicken, fajita vegetables, rice, steak, and tortillas — are genetically modified. Those ingredients are slapped with a scarlet letter primarily because they’re fried in soybean oil, which Chipotle says is “unavoidable” (and there’s no commercially available non-GMO sunflower oil). While it’s great that the company is moving toward transparency and aiming to eliminate GMOs, the information’s buried online. Hopefully Chipotle will clearly label GMOs in stores too. [Earlier, Earlier, IntelliHub]

Chipotle’s the First Restaurant Chain to Voluntarily Label GMOs